Not a bad turn out for reviews, honestly, I was expecting less than what I got. Now, as to why Kurama can't use any of his powers, that will be explained soon, but until then, he's still the...I believe Faraway-R called it reluctant comedy relief. Seeing as we're just beginning Book One, the fact that Naruto may or may not be a bender is not up for debate because you'll all see why in the Book Two story line, which I hope I can make interesting with a little spark of insanity. ;)

2: Republic City; Korra and Naruto's Recipe for Disaster pt.2

Naruto and Korra, after calming down their furry companions, circled back around to the park, where Korra displayed her abilities at what she called waterbending to provide a meal for them. Naruto was grateful, and so was Kurama, for sure. But the more he saw the powers she wielded, the more curious he got.

"So Naruto," Korra smiled at him as she passed him a roasted fish, "What nation are you from? I've never seen anyone with hair like your's before...or whiskers." She giggled before poking him in the cheek. Naruto grinned at the lighthearted teasing and pushed her hand away.

"I don't know anything about nations," Naruto told her, Kurama watching him as he munched on his own meal, "But I come from a place called the Land of Fire."

"So you're from the Fire Nation?" Korra asked curiously, then shook her head, "I can't see it. Most people I know from the Fire Nation are way paler than you, and have dark hair, and no one has such...blue eyes!"

Naruto cast a look down at the fox in question, to which Kuram just lifted his shoulders in a shrug. Naruto took that as the go-ahead. "I really don't know how I got here, Korra," he said before taking a bite, "The last thing I remember was being in a big fight with...someone I used to know. But I sorta got swallowed up by this white light that sent me and Kurama here...and I mean right here. We came falling out of the sky and hit the lake!"

At this point, he was almost afraid to look at the girl beside him. He knew the story sounded fantastic, but he had told the truth. Whether or not she believed him was another story altogether.

Korra, her lighter blue eyes wide in wonder, looked at the blond with an almost childlike curiosity. "Do you mean that you came through the spirit world?"

Kurama, finally looking up from his meal, scoffed, "Don't be foolish. If we did, Naruto wouldn't have survived. He has never had a connection to spirits, nor will he ever in my opinion. If we were pulled through a spirit portal, then I would have noticed."

"So what happened to us, then?" Naruto asked the fox pointedly.

Kurama shrugged, "If I had to guess, and this is the only thing that makes sense to me, is that the old man sent us here before we had a chance to kill that bastard Uchiha. Why? I have no idea. Hagoromo always did have reasons for doing something, though, so if he wanted us to come here, then there has to be a pretty damned good reason."

Naruto nodded, accepting this, then turned back to the girl, "So, do you believe me?"

Korra smiled at him, "It's a wild story, that's for sure, but why would you make up something like that?" Naruto just grinned at her belief, "So, what was your world like? Was it nice?"

Naruto smiled at this himself, "I lived on a central part of a large continent called the Land of Fire. It was covered in forests for the most part, except for a few plains where villages were normally built. Only ninja like me actually lived in the harsher parts of the land. But my village was strong, one of the strongest villages in the lands!"

"And you don't use bending?" Korra asked excitedly.

"No, we used jutsu techniques preformed with chakra- "

"What's chakra?"

In answer, Naruto sat back and lifted up his hand, letting his chakra form around it with a blue glow. Then he willed it into the first stage of the Rasengan. Korra beamed at the sight of the whirling mass. "That's incredible!" She said, "Do you think you could teach me?"

"Maybe." Naruto grinned with a slight blush on his face at the thought of teaching someone to use chakra.

Kurama laughed, "I wouldn't trust him to teach a fish how to swim!"

"Hey, I could be a teacher if I wanted!" Naruto snapped.

"Of course you could," the fox smirked, "To a rock. It's the only thing that would listen!" Kurama was roaring at his own joke, even Nagga seemed to growl in amusement. Korra was giggling as well while Naruto looked hurt.

"Gee, thanks a lot...shrimp." Naruto gained a smirk of his own, and Kurama immediately stopped laughing, glaring at the blond.

"What did you call me you brat?!"

"A shrimp," Naruto smirked, "You know it's a little fishy that's about the size of - "

"That does it!" Kurama lunged at him and latching onto his face, "You're dead meat, you blond birdbrain!"

"Gerroff!" Said blond roared as the fox clawed at him, Korra was torn between watching the fight and laughing at the pair, or stopping it before it went too far.

"Did you use to be bigger than this, Kurama?" Korra asked, deciding to distract the fox from his target.

"I was enormous!" Kurama snapped, leaving off his treatment of Naruto. "You're looking at the most powerful Tail-beast spirit in existence! No one could stop me once I decided to strike!" He puffed his chest out proudly, "I could flatten mountains with a single strike of just one of my tails, and whip up a hurricane with another. I was a force of nature!"

"Then...how did you two meet?" Korra asked.

"Not by choice," both said at once, earning a glare from each other and a giggle from the girl.

"That's a long story though," Kurama said, "Short version is that I was sealed inside him when he was a child, and we met when he was at death's door so I could save him. And for better or worse, we've been working together ever since then."

"And it wasn't always for the best," Naruto said, jerking his thumb at his companion, "More times than I could count, he tried to force his way out of me and wreak havoc."

"I just wanted to be free again," Kurama huffed, crossing his arms, "You were only my third vessel, while my siblings had already been sealed away into their fifth or sixth body. I was left alone for more than a thousand years before that bastard Uchiha found me and used me to fight the First Hokage."

Korra sighed in thought, "The more you two talk about the place you come from and the abilities of your people, the stranger it sounds."

"Well, this place seems pretty strange to us," Naruto said, "I've never seen a city like this one. It's so...cut off from nature. It's almost suffocating. And the way you can...bend the elements is crazy. Usually it takes years to master something like that, but you don't seem that much older than me, and I haven't even mastered my wind element - "

"Did you say wind?" Korra perked up in interest, "Are you an airbender?!"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know anything about that. I know that I can perform wind based attacks, and use my chakra to cut things like leaves, and I cut a waterfall in half once during training. But I can't use the elements like you can."

Korra just broke out in a beaming smile, "Well, if you say your primary element is wind, then you must be and airbender! Tenzen will be so happy to hear about...oh, that's right!" She yelped, "I need to get to Air Temple Island!"

"Is it far from here?" Naruto asked.

"No, it's just off the coast, and I'm sure that Tenzen will let you stay since you could be an airbender," she said, and reached out a hand to pull him to his feet. Naruto grinned and took the proffered hand and let himself be pulled up. At least he would have a place to stay.

=x=

"Have we found them yet?" Asked a tall, bald man with a blue arrow tattoo on hi head, "Have we found Korra?"

"Not yet," Lin snapped, "Just relax, we have everything under control, now got sit down and let me do my job!"

The airbending master just sighed, "Lin, you don't understand. Korra's never been inside a city like this. She's spent her entire life in secluded training so she could master the elements, all the while watched over by the White Lotus. Only a month ago she was begging to be brought here so I could teach her the necessary element of air!"

"Sounds like you should have done that while she was at home," she sneered, "Of course, I don't blame you for coming back here with the Equalists causing trouble for benders. But now I have a problem. I have the Avatar in the city, and she's been raised away from it's dangers, and not only that, I have what could only be described as an energybender on the loose, and he's been reported to have been seen with Korra!"

"Energy bending is only used by the Avatar," Tenzen argued, "Whatever this boy is, there's no possible way that he's - "

"It was impossible to metalbend until my mother invented it," Lin snapped back, "And have you forgotten about bloodbending?"

"No," Tenzen sighed, "I haven't forgotten. Mother was never fond of that particular part of waterbending. But an energybender?"

"We've seen strange things since Aang's passing," the police chief said, "Remember that lavabending's just surfaced."

Tenzen sighed, "I agree with that, but energybending is almost impossible unless you're the Avatar, or a giant Lion-turtle!"

Lin's patience with the man was wearing thin, "Then how do you explain the markings on the victim's abdomen? Those were no scorch marks. It's almost like he was plowed into with something spinning at high velocity. Whatever that golden-haired boy did, it very nearly killed the man he hit with it." She frowned in thought, "That's dangerous in itself. If he's strong enough to do something like that, it makes me wonder what he's really capable of?"

"We'll find out as soon as we find them," Tenzen said, and started pacing, "But if those two are together, maybe we should be worried? He might not be the friendly sort."

Lin just rolled her eyes, "If that were the case, then he wouldn't have jumped in and helped Korra when that Triad member tried to blind side her." She shrugged, "With this kid, I'm willing to bet he was just passing and decided to jump in. But that doesn't mean he won't pose a threat...He's not getting out of trouble if I can help it."

"But how are we going to find them?" Tenzen wondered aloud, "All we have to go on is the boy's odd hair coloration, and Korra's polar bear-dog."

"Tenzen be serious," Lin grumbled, palming herself in the face, "How many people have you ever seen with hair that color, and how many people do you know in Republic City that own a polar bear-dog?"

"Oh...right...sorry, Lin, I'm just worried about Korra, that's all," he said, still pacing, "It's as I said, she's never been to the mainlands before."

"Which just means that you should have offered to take her in and teach her like she wanted," she snapped, "Now look what she's gone and done. She's out and on the loose with someone dangerous! I - "

"Chief Beifong!" One of her officers came running in, giving a hasty salute, "An Equalist rally in the middle of the financial district turned into a riot! A fight broke out and someone set fire to the Dancing Dragon hotel!"

"What?!"

=x=

The Dancing Dragon hotel had, at one time, been the finest hotel in Republic City, catering to any and all that graced their doors. Kept clean, with good service, it was a favorite among all...that is until someone shot a fire ball through a window.

The once lavish hotel was now a burning inferno that lit up the city brighter than day. No one, bender or non-bender knew what to do. This was the scene a particular pair of teens rode up upon. The girl in front of the boy, riding atop a monstrous polar bear-dog, jumped off and knocked off the nearest fire hydrant, bending the water into the blaze. "I need any waterbender right now!" She roared, "Is anyone still inside?!"

"We don't know," a woman said as she took up position beside her and started to help, sending another stream into the fire, "I was on the ground floor when it happened. A firebender was chasing off some of those Equalists."

Korra just grunted as more waterbenders took up the cause, but the fire was just too strong for so few. Naruto was wondering what he could do, but he didn't know any water techniques. Then he heard something that turned his blood cold. A high, shrill scream of a child from above them.

"Kurama, did you - "

"I heard it," Kurama snapped, hopping down to the ground, "She's on the top floor, near the roof!"

"I'm going up!" Naruto told his friend, and shot forward, much to the surprise of the growing crowd, and Korra.

"Naruto, wait, you'll be killed!"

"Takes more than a little fire to do me in!" And with that, shocking everyone that could see him, he ascended the wall of the building, running straight up without a worry or care.

"Show off!" Kurama shouted at him from bellow, cursing his predicament since he couldn't seem to mold his chakra, or else he would have joined the blond.

Naruto meanwhile reached the top most windows of the burning hotel, pulsing his chakra our to find the little girl, and then dove through a window, ignoring the flames that licked at his body. He considered entering his sage form, but that would most likely scare the child, and he didn't need that right now. So he continued on, his clothes catching as the flames consumed the ceiling.

"Where are you?!" He yelled out, and got a cough in reply. Without thinking, he rammed through the wall, and found her there, laying on the floor, her face covered in ask, and badly burned in some places. He picked her up and made his way...to a blocked window. "Dammit!" Not having any other choice, he tucked the girl against his chest with one arm and raised his hand, his form glowing with a silvery chakra. This was what was left of the power awakened in him by the sage. He had thought it was gone at first when the appeared in this world, exhausted as he was. But it was still with him, thank the gods.

Whatever had happened to bring him here, he was running on a full tank, and that meant he didn't have to hold back!

"Wind Style: Rashenshurriken!" Above his head formed his greatest achievement, the completed work of his father, a spiraling mass of chakra in the form of a shurriken. But the moment it formed, something unexpected happened. Naruto watched in awe as the wind from the jutsu started drawing in the flames around him, turning the attack red, the center turning dark, until it was pitch black with heat.

"Che," he hurled the mass up, through the ceiling, watching as it ripped and burned its way up and out.

Outside, on the street below, the receding flames hadn't gone unnoticed. Korra was still directing the small band of waterbenders, and though that for a moment they were making progress, that is until she saw the roof explode out with a massive scream as a disk of burning energy tore its way free. The attack traveled far into the sky, further than Naruto thought if could go, and expanded in a fiery sphere, and dissipated.

Naruto was just crawling out of the building, back to normal again thanks to his technique, and grinned as he started down the wall, the girl still tucked under his arm. "Think I'll call that the Hell-fire Rasenshurriken...nah, maybe not...Fire Storm Rasenshurriken? Damn..."

Naruto lept down the last few feet of the way, touching down with a proud smile on his face. "Naruto!" Korra smiled at him.

"Mikasa!" A woman screeched, rushing to the blond, and taking the child from his arms, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Get her to a medic," Naruto instructed, "She's taken in too much smoke for a kid her size, and she's got some bad burns around her hands and face."

The mother did as she was instructed and hurried off just as Korra walked over to him and slugged him in the arm, "You damn show-boat, you stole my scene!"

Naruto feigned being hurt and clutched his arm, "Ah, go easy on my!"

Korra thought she'd actually hurt him and moved to check him out, but the only thing that was actually damaged with his clothes, which were now falling away in charred remains. Korra giggled and picked up a piece of the ruined jacket, "I think you need to worry more about your wardrobe than your health."

Kurama and Nagga came up then, the former keeping a safe distance from the larger beast, "He's got as much bad taste in clothing as he has no sense. He's screwed."

"What's wrong with how I dress?" Naruto pouted, picking at his ruined clothes that Jiraiya had given him.

Korra would have replied, but that was when four police officers literally landed on the scene, Chief Beifong among them. She took one look at the blond and brunette before she shouted, "ARREST THOSE TWO!"

Naruto twitched a little at that as he was surrounded by officers, his hands being restrained by steel cables, "What the hell?"

This is what we call the fit hitting the shan...scratch that, reverse it. Anyway, Naruto and Korra are in deep. Let's hope Kurama can keep his trap shut...or not :P

Don't forget to review! And Happy Holidays!

Kurama: Okay, screw you, Ryoshi, it's Merry frickin' Christmas!