A/N Hello fellow FF Members and Visitors alike, this is 9tailsfox2 with Chapter 2 for 'The Blind Search'! Sorry for taking so long. Actually having a life actuallu takes time out your day. I used my extra time to write this out and I even had this beta'd by Nine Mice, whom I must thank. As for the tats, holy shit! 32 Reviews, 138 Followers, 81 Favs, 1,950 views and even 2 Communities in 2 almost months! I did not realize how popular this would be when I wrote this up. I even have my first beta with this fic, but it is only for this fic. But yeah, unto the chapter. It is so popular, that I have decided to start up my funny disclaimers again.

DISCLAIMER:

Naruto: Hey Tails!

Tails: Yeah?

Naruto: Say it!

Tails: Say what?

Toph: You know...

Tails: Know what?

Naruto: You know! Say it!

Tails: Or what?

Toph: ROCK TO THE FACE!

Tails: Ugggghhhhh fine... I don't own Naruto or Avatar nor the characters... ugghhh *faints*

Naruto & Toph: High five!


Naruto slumped against the wall in an alleyway of the city of Gaoling. While this was a new start, he didn't have anything to pay for food and lodging and even then, he did not know what copper pieces looked like. He tried looking at different transactions, but the money was exchanged hand to hand and he could not make out what they looked like. At least he was smart enough to change his henge attire closer to what Earth Kingdom people would wear. He even decided to go incognito and changed his physical appearance to match those in the city. Blonde hair was not in sight as Naruto posed as homeless.

Naruto looked down as his stomach grumbled. Dammit! This sucks! At least I was able to feed myself back in Konoha. Maybe I could try catching some fish outside the city… At least in the river, I could wash myself privately.


"MY CABBAGES!" No, Naruto did not steal cabbages; he wasn't literally dying of hunger. He stole some bread as he saw there was no fish in the river, where he bathed of course, and now he was on the run from the authorities once again. Go figure.

Naruto turned around and not for the last time yelled to the man, "I'm sorry!"

The guards didn't care as they trampled whatever was left of the poor man's cabbages. "Get back here you runt!"

Naruto stuck out his tongue. "If you want me you have to try harder than that! Your mother was faster than this last night!"

The guard in the front of the formation roared in anger "YOU BASTARD!"

Naruto smirked as he suddenly stopped along with the rest of the guard, except the one charging of course. Perfect! When the guard reached at about the half-way point, he jumped up and slammed his foot in to the ground, sending a rock towards Naruto's face. Naruto side stepped and grabbed the rock midair and redirected it back at the guard, whom dodged it and was about to attack again but realized that the rock knocked down quite a few of his own men. "Nah, I thought you had me, but I got bored."

The guard growled and yelled. "Charge!"

Naruto laughed. "You still think you can get me!?" Naruto threw down a smoke bomb and done a Kage Bunshin No Jutsu and both the original and the Bunshin Henged into guards.

When the smoke cleared the group of guards looked amongst them. "Anybody see where he went?"

The Head Guard growled. "Find that tricky bastard! Fan out! You all know what he looks like!"

Everyone nodded and went off to find their target, unbeknownst to them he was among them and was getting away with free bread.

The Head Guard began his search lost within his thoughts. What is it with the world today? A Fire Nation Man with amnesia and a homeless man here in Gaoling stealing bread. What's next? The Avatar will show up? The guard chuckled as he continued his search.


Naruto and his clone turned into an alleyway and with that, the clone dispelled while Naruto henged into another appearance. Naruto was about to start eating his bread when he heard a whimper. Naruto looked down and smiled when he saw a bear dog. Naruto remembered from Toph's explanation that the animals in this world were quite different from his own world. He came to the conclusion that the animals on this continent were actually a mixture of two animals. "Huh? Are you hungry too?"

The bear dog turned his head to the side as if telling Naruto that he was correct. Naruto smiled as he tore his loaf in half and gave it to the bear dog, who happily accepted it. "Hmm, where are your owner little fella? Did you get lost?"

The bear dog barked as he continued to eat the bread.

Naruto knew better than to touch a hungry dog, or in this case, a bear dog, while it was eating, especially if it was a stray. "You know, I got lost from home recently as well. While on one hand I'm glad I'm out of there so I wouldn't be treated like crap, on the other, I made friends there, whether I like it or not, somewhere deep in here," Naruto put his hand to his heart, "I do miss my home already and it even hasn't been a day."

The bear dog sat down next to Naruto when he was done and laid his head on Naruto's lap and looked up as if to say, 'Continue.'

Naruto nodded and pet the bear dog to search for a collar. "Hmmm, so your name is Sam huh? Anyways, while part of me wants to go back, I know that it will never happen because the sea is so large and I don't think any sailor wishes to go farther than the sight of land lest he wishes death. Additionally, I don't even know where to go, it'll take ages to go back. But yet, even if it weren't for all those things, I still wouldn't go back. You know why?"

Sam hung his tongue out, starts panting and wagging his tail with a bark.

Naruto continued scratching his ear and said with a smile, "Because I already made a best friend."

Naruto looked down and smiled as Sam slept in his lap. Well I guess I could stay with you a bit but you have to go back to your owners.

All of a sudden Naruto heard a child yelling out for something and looked out the alleyway. "Sam! Where are you boy!?"

The young boy was suddenly stopped by someone whom he presumed was his mother. "He's gone Lee. Maybe he'll come back tomorrow."

Lee started crying. "But mommy, I want Sam now!"

The mother hugged her son. "It's ok we could just get another bear dog."

Lee pulled away. "But I don't want another bear dog! I want Sam!"

Naruto cleared his throat loud enough to get their attention, which worked. "Excuse but I couldn't help but overhear that you were looking for a bear dog named Sam."

Lee looked up and saw Sam in Naruto's lap and instantly ran to him and held him. "SAM! Oh, I'm so happy to see you! You don't know how worried I was!"

Sam opened up his eyes and instantly began licking the face of his owner.

The mother walked up to Naruto and pulled out something from her pockets. "Oh thank you for finding our bear dog, my son was so worried. Here, something for your troubles."

Naruto shook his head. "No thank you, he actually kept me company. So it was no trouble at all."

The mother sighed and forced what was in her hand into his. "I insist. I would feel bad for not giving a reward."

Naruto scratched his head. "And I would feel bad for accepting something I didn't earn, although I did give him half of the bread I sto- I mean got, because he seemed hungry. How long was he lost?"

The mother shook her head and reached for more money. "Three days. I don't care how you got the bread whether you stole it, or baked it yourself, you still found Sam and I am grateful for it. Besides, you look like you need it more than me."

Naruto sighed and gave up as he took the money from the mother's hand. "Alright, thank you very much. I hope you don't lose him again."

Lee excitedly got up and looked at Naruto and held out his hand. "Thank you sir! What's your name?"

Naruto smiled and shook Lee's hand. "Naruto Uzumaki."

The mother smiled. "Strange name, you're not around from here, are you?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'd prefer not to talk about it, but no I am not."

The mother smiled and shook Naruto's hand as well. "Alright thanks again… Lee, it's time to go home!"

Lee looked at Sam and smiled. "Sam! It's time to go home!"

Sam got up and stayed for a second and licked Naruto's face before standing beside Lee.

Naruto nodded and smiled. "Bye! Thanks for the company and the money."

The mother and child waved goodbye and walked off. "No problem!"

Naruto sighed as he let his thoughts wonder. I wonder what Toph is doing right now.


Toph grumbled when she 'fumbled' with cutting up her steak. She hated acting weak. She knew exactly what would happen should she come out with her true abilities. They will put her on 24/7 lockdown. She wouldn't have anytime to herself to practice bending. Yeah, she could easily escape whatever her parents set up as her watch, but where would she go? Where could she live that is not on the streets? She could only take so much money, but people could take advantage of her blindness and she can't tell the difference between a copper, silver, or a gold piece from one another. While the weight in metals were different, anything that size is very much almost indistinguishable among other metals.

Poppy got up and helped Toph with the steak cutting and set the fork in the food so Toph can eat it. "Honestly honey, how can we possibly let you further your Earth Bending training when you clearly can't cut your steak?"

Toph was nearly on the brink of breaking and has been for the last few weeks. Even with the Earth Rumble VI, she was ready to lash back at her parents, but she kept her cool for now and she suspects that unless someone gave her a real challenge or at least a real work out to expel the pent up frustration, she would explode by next week. "Because mom, I already know the basics. Doing the same thing over and over is boring."

Lao shook his head. "We can't let you do that, it's too dangerous for one as fragile as you. We love you and we don't want to see you hurt."

Toph slumped even more in her posture, if it was possible. "Ok. Can I go back up to my room now? I'm done with my food."

Lao nodded and motioned for a guard to lead Toph back to her room. Toph hung her head low and sighed. Figures, they say they love me, but they won't even tuck me in my own bed, like I ever wanted them too.

After Toph got got settled in bed she used her sight to keep track of all the bugs on the outside. Animals are creatures of habit and she had learned to keep track of time by using the activities of the insects on the outside as reference. The cricket mantis would start chirping at 6, the majority of the mosquito flies would be drawn to the porch at 7 at this time of the year. The bats from the nearby cave would land on the house at 8. Her parents would snore at 9 and finally the badger moles would go back to their beds at 10. While they were out of her sight range, the vibrations that came from their digging weren't. It was slight, but she knew it was them. It is time.


Naruto grumbled as the time soon approached to meet up with Toph. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto frowned. What do you mean?

Kyuubi growled. "You should be finding a way back home so I can terrorize those people you once called friends."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. You heard me talking to that bear dog?

Kyuubi grumbled. "Like I have no choice. Being trapped in you is total damnation. The only way to even keep my sanity is to talk with you, the one I hate so much."

Naruto sighed as he got up and began walking to Toph's house. You should treat me nicer.

Kyuubi shook his head. "Why? Why should I, a demon of hatred and darkness be nice to you!? You are nothing more than entertainment when you make mistakes!"

Naruto laughed. Hey you made mistakes too.

Kyuubi growled. "Wasn't my fault!"

Naruto was confused. What are you talking about?

Kyuubi shook his head. "Don't you have a 'meeting that wastes time' to go to?"

Naruto nodded as he hopped the wall and waited by the meeting the place. It's not a waste of time! Now shut up and leave me alone!

Kyuubi growled. "Fine brat."


Toph sneaked out the house and heard something or someone jump the wall. That must be Naruto. Toph made her way to the meeting spot and smiled as she recognized the footsteps as Naruto. She quietly called, "Naruto, come over here."

Naruto nodded and approached Toph. He stepped as quietly as possible as to not make any noise. A stick cracked and froze. Toph nodded and waved, which gave him the all clear. Naruto finally reached Toph and sighed in relief. "Hi, so how are we going to train without waking up you parents?"

Toph smirked and pointed in the distance. "We are going to train in the mountains."

Naruto saw mountain range in the distance and frowned. While they could walk the distance, how much time would be left to train. Naruo shrugged. They will have time but another thought popped into his head. "What if they find you not in your bed?"

Toph laughed, not out of joy and mirth, but out of irony and even with a hint of rage. "The way they think of me, I'd probably make a ton of noise trying to find my way out my room."

Naruto scratched his head. He really did not know how to handle family problem concerning the parents, seeing as he had none. So he decided to stray the conversation away from her parents. "How about a demonstration of one of my skills right now?"

Toph sighed and leaned against a nearby tree. "As long as it doesn't make any noise."

Naruto nodded and prepared himself for a few heartbeats. "Alright, watch closely."

Toph nodded in anticipation as Naruto crossed his fingers. I wonder what he is going to do.

Naruto smirked as he performed his jutsu with chakra whipping everywhere. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu." Naruto created a solid clone.

To Toph, it seemed someone else appeared out of nowhere and immediately got into a battle stance with an intense look on her face. "Who are you!?"

The mysterious figure laughed, which oddly sounded like Naruto. "It's just me Toph-Chan. I just created a solid clone. If it was an illusion, you would never have been able to detect it. Besides I can't do a regular clone to save my life."

Toph's eyes widened as she realized he was telling the truth. It took a few minutes for Toph to calm down from the scare. "Wow that is such a useful ability."

Naruto nodded and smiled. "I can perform a pretty good Henge, a jutsu to disguise your appearance, but it is just an illusion. You will not be able to detect any difference in my stature such as height and shape. I could henge into the tallest and fattest person alive and you will still only see what you see now. It is because these are sight illusions and nothing more."

Toph nodded as she tried to process the information. "So you can turn into a fly but you will be unable to fly because you really don't have wings?"

Naruto put his thumbs up in the same style as Maito Gai and his protege Rock Lee. "Exactly, but I can make the fly seem like it's flying around close the ground. Though there are better jutsus for eavesdropping."

Toph scratched her head in confusion, but gave up on figuring it out. "Well, whatever. It's going to take some time getting use to your fighting style. Though I would call it cheating to have multiple people on one."

Naruto shook his head as he henged his clone into Toph. The clone altered the posture and spoke. "I-I'm scared. I d-don't know where I am." The clone tripped over a rock and started crying.

Toph, only seeing the clone as Naruto was really confused. "Ok, why is your clone acting like the weak me? If it only looked like me then it would be perfect."

Naruto laughed. "My clone does look like you. Remember, this is sight illusion. So I'm that good huh?"

Toph nodded with wide-eyed realization. I-It's genius! "Yeah, but don't put yourself on a high pedestal"

Naruto nodded and smiled. "Alright, he's going take your place in your bed, as a precaution."

Toph shook her head. Who does he think he is!? "No! Only I'm allowed to sleep in my bed!"

Naruto hung his head in disappointment. I didn't think I would have to explain it to her. "Dummy, what if your parents get up and find you missing?"

Toph opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. "Alright fine, but if I find that you screw anything up or you tell anyone else, I will personally put a rock through your head!"

Naruto nodded as he sent his clone off. "Alright, I promise not to screw anything up or tell anyone about it. Are we good to go now?"

Toph nodded. "Yeah, let's go."


Toph was still amazed at the fact while she had to earth bend her way up that cliff, Naruto just walked up the slope as if it were a casual stroll. But this time she was prepared for such surprises. "You think you're tough just because you're able to walk up and down walls?"

Naruto yawned. "And ceilings."

This did not throw Toph off. "Well let's see how much of that trickery is going to come through for you against me. Remember, I can't be fooled by illusions."

Naruto laughed. "You can't be fooled by illusions through sight. But you can still be fooled by illusion through sound, but I'm not that good at genjutsu, so I think I'll stick with Taijutsu."

Toph growled. "Let's get this fight on already!"

Naruto yawned. "Alright let's do this!" Naruto immediate produced 5 clones quickly surrounded Toph and charged.

Toph smirked as she rose up 6 rocks and sent them flying into each clone and the original Naruto. Naruto's eye went wide as he spotted a nearby boulder and used Kawarimi to use it as a replacement. "Is that all you can do?"

Naruto smirked. Well, I guess I am in a territory that is to her advantage. But I do wonder how well she can detect objects in the air through sound. "Nope!" Naruto crouched down and picked up a nearby rock, jumped and threw it at Toph.

Toph waited as she felt Naruto jump. A few moments later she was caught off guard as she felt a rock rush towards her from the air and it was only through training that allowed her to react by redirecting the rock in the direction in which it was thrown. That was too close; he must've thrown it while in midair.

Naruto landed as soon as Toph sent the rock flying. Close, very close. That was inches away from hitting her, must be her weakness. Unfortunately I don't have any projectiles on me. "Alright, so you can't see anything in the air unless it is very close to you!"

Toph nodded. "That won't do you any good if I'm faster than you!"

Naruto laughed. "I didn't even throw that hard!" With that, he jumped with a rock in hand again and this time threw it harder. Again, it got close but Toph dodged it.

Toph laughed. "You really have to try harder Foxy!"

Naruto shook his head. One more time! Naruto jumped and threw it as hard and as fast as he can and even aided the speed with chakra. This time Toph stopped it in mid-air just a hair width away from her eye. "You are too slow!"

Toph then sent the rock flying right into Naruto's face, but he dodged it.

Naruto growled. "Alright! That's it! Now I'm mad! Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" With that, a hundred clones appeared and all went to pile Toph at the same time.

Toph's eyes widened as she began sending rocks everywhere. "That's not fair! You could summon an army!"

Naruto smirked as Toph began dodging his punches and kicks and sent up spikes of earth as retaliation. "There is a drawback for using this technique. It divides the chakra one has equally. Unfortunately for you, I have a lot of chakra!"

Toph slammed her foot down just as 10 clones were about to hit her at the same time, which sank them beneath the earth, causing them to pop. Good thing that they are defeated after one hit, otherwise he would have won by now. With a smirk, she realized something. This is the challenge I was waiting for! The fact that I could possibly lose right now is giving me the greatest rush of a lifetime! "You think you can beat me with all your clones!? I will defeat them, you and still be able take on more! I am unstoppable!"

Toph soon regretted her words as exhaustion started taking place and yet there were still fifty left. How can he fight so much? Surely cutting that much chakra will make you exhausted. Toph continued knocking out all the clones, pushing through, despite her exhaustion until there were two left flanking and charging her. If she weren't so close to falling over, she would have used her Earth Bending to knock them out, but instead she bumped into a clone, stopping its attack and dodged the other's attack, causing the clone to hit the other. Toph took this opportunity to punch the clone in the stomach and immediately felt a fist hit her face. What!?

Toph used her ability and saw the Naruto she hit most recently doubled over and realized that the Naruto she hit was the real Naruto she hit and that a clone actually jumped in the air and dived towards her for an attack. The clone, still going too fast to stop himself, hit the wall and popped from that.

Naruto tried to get up but realized that the punch was harder than he realized and just simply fell down. "Th-That was quite a punch."

Toph nodded from her downed position. "Yeah."

Naruto waited for the Kyuubi's chakra to heal him enough to get up; unfortunately when he looked up he realized that there was a very pointy rock floating at his neck. "Wh-What?"

Toph smiled as she tossed the rock aside and laughed, while still lying down. "I won."

Naruto got up and smiled. "Yes, you did. You put a great fight Toph. I made the mistake of thinking the fight was over. You used that to your advantage. Good job."

Toph frowned. "How do you have so much energy?"

Naruto shrugged. "Not energy, it's more like the will to keep going. That and the fact that I literally have a demon sealed inside of me." Naruto looked down and patted where his seal is.

Toph lifted an eyebrow at this. "What? Does he heal you or something?"

Naruto looked up and nodded. "Yup, but I don't know if it's his chakra or if he is actually helping me. I've always been a fast healer, but now I think it's been the fox the entire time, intentional or not."

Toph sighed. "Well that's nice. Not only do you have an immense pool of chakra, as you say, you also have the ability to go well past your limits AND you slowly heal over time. With that you are an unstoppable one man army!"

Naruto smiled. "If I was unstoppable, then how did you win? While I have some intelligence, I'm not that good at thinking in the heat of the moment. I really can't think of a good strategy while fighting. So I use my endurance and keep charging to overpower the opponent's defenses. It's not efficient, but it's the best way I can fight, though I plan on changing up on my style, if someone can help me."

Toph began nodding off. "I would say yes to help my only friend, but I'm tired right now and I should not be making promises when I am not even aware of where you are. Although the fact that I kicked your ass is awesome! I told you I was the best Earth bender!"

Naruto laughed. "I don't doubt it well your potential at least. I'm sure that somewhere out there is a better Earth bender. You have to realize, whatever your best skill is, there is always someone better at it, at least that's what one of my sensei's told me."

Toph smirked. "If there is someone out there better than me, then I'll become better than them. I will continue to become better than my next opponent until everyone can say without a doubt that I, Toph Beifong, is the best Earth bender in the world!"

Naruto laughed at her enthusiasm. "Great! I can't wait to see you stand at the top." Naruto held out his hand towards Toph.

Toph hesitated at taking his hand. "What are you doing?"

Naruto smiled and responded with, "Why, to help you up of course! I'll even let you lean on me on the walk back, but we have to move carefully to be not seen."

Toph thought about it for a moment and smiled as she accepted the hand and got up to lean on Naruto's shoulder. "Alright, thanks for the help."

Naruto smiled. "No problem…" Naruto's smile faltered when he began receiving images and information in his head that was just too real to ignore.

Toph noticed her friend's sudden change in emotion through the change in heartbeat, change in posture and the sudden stop. "Naruto, what's wrong?"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know…"

Naruto felt Kyuubi snarl. "You fool! Those are the memories of the Kage Bunshin you sent out to replace Toph with!"

Naruto shook his head in confusion. What are you talking about!?

Toph started getting worried. "Naruto, what's wrong?"

Kyuubi shook his head. "The Kage Bunshin has the ability to transfer whatever memories and experience it has unto the original, excluding injuries! So those images you are receiving right now mean it just happened a few seconds ago! Run you fool!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he took Toph onto his back. "Something bad just happened, very bad."

With his heartbeat suddenly speeding up like that, along with the sudden rush to get back, Toph can only draw the conclusion that whatever 'bad thing' was happening was definitely an emergency. "What are you talking about!? What happened!?"

Naruto grinded his teeth. "Apparently, the Kage Bunshin can transfer any memories and experiences it has to the original. The clone that was sleeping in your bed, just had its throat slit!"


A/N I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. With this becoming just as popular as 'Escape' in one chapter, I really took care of writing this. I would love to thank Nine Mice again, It was mostly subtle things, but I did edit one scene significantly enough, which was when Naruto and Kurama spoke to each other. I originally planned to have Kyuubi wake Naruto up, but it really did not fit Kyuubi's attitude towards Naruto additionally Nine Mice offered another point of view on why genjutsu wouldn't work on people in the world of the Avatar. I'll keep that in mind and will incorporate it into the story later, but for now it is unknown to Naruto, Toph and all of you... for now.

Alright thanks for reading! Don't forget to R&R and this is 9tailsfox2 signing off!