She beckoned to him, gesturing him to follow her towards the well-kept garden. Spinning, she danced through the large garden, beneath the tall trees and inbetween the bushes, nimble like a frisky sprite. The youngest child, daughter, of Fire Lord Ozai was a never before seen prodigy in the art of Firebending. Wielding the power of azure flames, hotter than any of the Fire Nation's biggest flames, the only thing that was possibly stopping her from taking the throne for herself was experience, as well as the ability to curb her hubris. Against her father, currently holding the title of the strongest Fire Bender alive, she was practically a new-born cub against a ferocious bear, capable of mauling grown men to death with his oversized paws.

"C'mon, Naruto! Let's play something fun!" Her voice was playful, yet commandeering from years of being pampered and asserting her dominance over the Palace's maids and servants. She ducked beneath the gentle willow leaves that hung next to the large koi pond. Blue water rippled as the colourful koi rushed away from the dancing girl; and for good reason too. The girl was a natural predator and even the fishes could feel it.

Breathing in the fresh air, Azula grinned into the surface of the water, admiring her beautiful reflection. Silky black hair that was let down, released from the usual confines of a silver coloured band and a large metal comb that would sit into her hair, pinning it in place, she flipped her head and tossed her hair across her back. Perfectly rounded lips once coated with pretty ruby lipstick, was curled into a naughty smile, full of mischief unfit to be found on a princess. Pale skin shun under the light of the smiling morning sun, her complexion was considered to be quite rare, but she shared it with one of her other friends, Mai, and her mother, Ursa.

Her mother was a strange subject for the growing girl, having spent most of her time with her father than her mother. At first, she had resented the fact that Zuko received so much more love from Ursa than Azula, and had told Naruto about the conflicting feelings of hating her mother for doing so but wanting to have her attention as well. Naruto had silently debated with himself for a while before he looked at her and asked her honestly if she had told her mother that she did not enjoy being left out from her affection. Azula shook her head, having never thought about that.

'Wasn't a mother supposed to do her job and look after all her children?' She had asked him, Naruto nodded, as he leaned into her comfy bed, but held up his hand to prevent angry words from spilling from her lips.

'That's true,' He admitted, 'But daughters are also supposed to do their job and love their mothers. It's not as if your mother never tried to give you any love was it?' Azula frowned, thinking back to all the times she snubbed her mother's requests for tea and a chat, choosing to practise in Firebending instead. 'There, I know you've found the answer.' He had shrugged, 'Whether or not you choose to change the path you're currently walking, to go back when you still have the chance to do so, is up to you. I, personally, would do it. I never had a mother, or a father, and it would a shame to lose yours just because you don't want to tell her that.' He told her, gently brushing his hand over her hair, pushing the black locks from her face to her back. Azula had done a lot of thinking that night, choosing to go against the road she had been walking, wanting to return to the fork in the road and take the path Zuko did. It was going to be tough, with many bumps along the way back to the split path, but she wasn't the strongest and toughest girl in her generation for nothing.

Not only the strongest girl in her generation, the girl was already considered by the masses to be the most beautiful girl in the Fire Nation, whether that opinion was completely true or lies told from fear was, so far, undetermined. In her opinion, she found herself to be quite pretty and would get rather… 'feisty' when someone disagreed. It was rather thankful that Naruto agreed with her nearly all the time. Not that she was necessarily wrong, but was very intelligent and cunning. The only times he disagreed were during private talks and discussions about various subjects ranging from tactics to use in war and even the topic of friends.

On the topic of wartime strategies, Azula had been adopting the strategy her father used. She found sacrificing troops for the greater good to be the perfect tactic while Naruto debated, saying that if it were he who was in charge, he would search of a way to lose as little of his soldiers as possible instead of ensuring a sure-win at the price of hundreds of soldiers. When the princess had asked why, Naruto simply stated that those soldiers she wanted to sacrifice had families that were waiting for them when they got home, and asked if she were a soldier, what would Ursa's reaction be to her death? Azula had then reconsidered her choices from her best friend's words, questioning Ozai and herself, wondering if she was suited for such a job when the time came.

Shaking the thought out of her head, she shoved them aside for later. For now, she wasn't Princess Azula, just Azula. It was funny in a way, she always cared so much about the title of Princess so much, but after meeting Naruto, and befriending him, his way of seeing her as herself instead of Princess Azula, how he saw through her perfected mask, had changed her views about herself, even going as far to question if she even knew her real personality after living as someone else for so long. Her father was a very influential man after all.

Here, she was free, free from her shackles as a princess of the Fire Nation. The garden wasn't the only factor that contributed to that. Her gold eyes darted to the blonde that was still trailing behind, a carefree look on his whiskered face. She had met Naruto when she was around four to five, and had bonded with him over time. He was three years older than her but had no idea how he even managed to get her father -of all people!- to allow a stranger, an apparent peasant if his words were reputable, into the palace. She had heard from the gossiping of maids that the blonde had beaten one of the elite guards in her father's entourage, therefore catching her father's attention.

Her best friend laughed with his hands behind his shaggy skull as he followed behind her at a slower gait. "Sure thing, Azula-chan." He told her offhandedly, accepting her game request.

"Naruto~!" She whined, stomping her foot childishly. "You'll never get me at that speed!"

"Ara." His big blue eyes twinkled, a tiny smirk forming on his face. "Whining, how unbecoming of a princess." He playfully mocked, casually moving out of the way of a tiny blue ember that would have left a little red mark on his skin had it touched. Azula was pouting, her finger pointed out at him as proof that she was the one who had done so, had the blue in the fire not been obvious.

She said sternly to the boy, "You know that I'm not Princess Azula now, just Azula."

"I know, Azula-chan, just teasing you." He replied.

"Well I don't like it." She folded her arms and looked away haughtily, apparently unhappy with Naruto's roguish remark. Chuckling softly at her action, Naruto glided over to the girl and walked around her, admiring the 'clothes' that she adorned, a set of crimson pyjamas with a golden trim. Going to her back, he softly took Azula's black hair and bundled it together, slowly removing the silver band around his wrist and tied her hair up into a cute little ponytail. Not being able to see her face, he was unable to get the memory of Azula smiling softly, golden eyes in a daze as she felt his lithe fingers through her sleek charcoal hair. Face flushed, she bit her lip, stopping the excited giggle from escaping from her mouth. She loved the feeling of his caring hands, and was unknowingly reminded very much of her mother when she used to tie her hair up for Azula.

"There." He released her hair, "All tied up and ready to play." He had also somehow managed to worm his way into a position as her personal 'bodyguard' –not that she needed it- as well as her butler. She assumed father wouldn't allow him to have stayed for so long without doing anything, besides, Naruto was a great teacher and a very difficult person to catch at times. Pranks in the palace were… common, to say the least. Most of which were played on her older brother, Zuko who was a year younger than he was, and left the crown prince bitter at how he was unable to catch the blonde off guard and prank him back.

Having Naruto around had also been rather beneficial to the princess. None of them knew, but her arrogance and hubris, although still very high, had been cut slightly. His happy-go-lucky attitude and kind persona, the way he treated the maids and servants, had affected Azula slightly. The palace saw a decrease of maids and servants being banished from the Fire Nation after a year of Naruto's introduction.

"Are you sure you still want to play Catch? You do realise you're quite the sore loser when you lose, don't you? I'm not sure I like that kind of attitude."

She struck a pose, a hand on her hip while the other pointed a well-manicured fingernail at him. "Hah! Just for those words, if I win, I'll banish you." The girl smirked, knowing that she had backed him into a corner.

"No, you won't." He rubbed her head patronizingly. "You love me too much to do that."

Then again, Naruto was as slick as an eel. Cornering him would prove to be nigh impossible.

"I-Idiot!"

And so, the game of tag began with the grinning blonde fox running away from the blushing cat who was flinging azure fireballs across the garden to the training field, careful in her shots.

Wouldn't want to burn down her favourite place in the whole of the Fire Nation over something that was very true, now did she?

Preview in the far future.

The man cowered before him, pride, rank and authority long forgotten. This wasn't supposed to have happened! He should have died on that ship! Naruto's face was eerily calm and lacked emotion, a surprise to the High Admiral who always saw the boy grinning or smiling.

"To protect ourselves and what we hold dear…" He muttered softly, voice smooth like silk, and raised his arms at the High Admiral. His face was one of utter calmness, then like a ripple in the pond, his arms- Oh Kami his arms!

Blazing black flames, ethereal and translucent burned furiously up to his elbows, engulfing his hands in heat unmeasurable. Azure fire was one thing, but stygian flames were something completely impossible. What the hell was going on?! What kind of demonic power was this?! The boy approached him slowly, the creak of the wood beneath his heels was slow, painfully so. Sweating profusely, Zhao could feel it, the incredible cold the ebony blaze emitted was… nether worldly, not from this plane. He couldn't even raise his own arms or fight back, the dread that the boy gave him was crippling his ability to even think, let alone function properly.

"… We keep frightening beasts within us." His stoic face broke, a small genial smile appearing on his face, illuminated by the cold flames that had travelled up to his elbows already. He cleared his throat, "Now, allow me to introduce to you, Amaterasu. Flames so hot, they feel…" He searched for an appropriate word, smiling when he did.

"...Chilling. Maybe this'll teach you not to try anything against Azula-hime."

Despite how far and wide they travelled, no one was there to hear Zhao's screams as the sable flames consumed him, body and soul.

Chapter end.

Naruto will be born in the universe of Avatar, and will be a Fire Bender who has a little secret to his flames, one that has more than enough power to dominate the Nation in Red. He is the apprentice of Piandao, which I was inspired by from the Umbrella Swordsman Fic by Orpheus. He'll be strong, but not too strong due to his age. He's above Azula in terms of actual fighting.

This will also be a harem fic, with Azula, Ty Lee and Mai, probably the hottest trio of girls in Nickelodeon history. Not exactly saying much when compared to Ed, Edd and Eddy's Kanker Sisters, where only Marie was pretty cute.

Nevertheless, I'd like to see how this one fares in the midst. I'm fairly certain that my version of the Fire Bending Naruto hasn't been done before. His rage fuels his power and he will be having a different variant of Amaterasu, something that I wished to see more in Naruto X Avatar fics.

Expect lots of fluff with Azula, Ty Lee and Mai.