Chapter 3

"Darn it!" Sokka cursed as he deflected the three ice needles hurled at him. Releasing a burst of chakra from the bottom of his feet, he propelled himself at least ten feet up in the air to avoid the follow up attack of a localized water tsunami.

Before he could even begin to fall, his sister was suddenly there with the intention of smacking him with a well timed flying kick to the head. Too bad it didn't connect since Sokka managed to flip himself in midair and scissor kicked her sister in the chin.

He thought he had her but when both of them hit the ground, Katara's body suddenly exploded into water. He cursed again when he had to perform a split to avoid a kick to the back of the head. From that position, he made a sweeping leg kick but his agile sister managed to jump away unharmed.

Quickly pulling himself up, he turned to face his sister again, cursing once more upon seeing that there are three of them. That Mizu Bushin is really starting to get on his nerves. He scowled seeing all three of them giving him a smug smirk.

Throwing away his boomerang, he pulled his bone staff from his back and charged his three identical opponents with a loud battle cry. Two of the three charged him as well while one stayed behind. As he neared them, he purposely slid on the ice to avoid a body tackle from the first Katara before throwing his staff like a spear to hit the Katara that stayed behind. It would have hit if her water clone didn't moved herself to sheild the one in the back, bursting into water upon impact but still managing to stop the momentum of the staff.

Sokka didn't even have time to curse when he was tackled from behind by the earlier clone, forcing him on the icy ground, pinning his arms behind him and sitting on his back to prevent him from escaping.

"I win, Sokka." The Katara holding him down said in his ear with a smug grin.

Relaxing his body, Sokka gave out a defeated sigh and asked, "You're the real Katara, right?"

"Yup. I knew you were going for the one that stays back thinking that was the real me." She boasted proudly, slightly relaxing her hold on him.

"That's good." He said with his own smug grin before suddenly rolling both of them to the right, just in time to avoid the boomerang that had embedded itself on the same spot they've been on mere seconds ago right after it sliced through the remaining water clone.

Soon enough, it was Sokka who's pinning her down and sitting on her back. She tried to escape but Sokka wouldn't let her. "Looks like you spoke too soon, Katara."

She tried struggling a little more but Sokka have no intention of letting her go. "No fair! I already had you pinned." After several minutes more of futile struggling, KAtara finally relented and said, "Fine. You win this time. Now get off of me you overweight doofus."

"Good spar, you two." Came NAruto's familiar voice. Turning to the right, both saw him walking down from a nearby snow hill with all of the village's kids with him. The kids seems quite excited and kept talking about the mock fight.

"Arigato, Naruto-sensei." Both siblings said with a respectful bow. "But he still cheated! I had him pinned first." Katara whined loudly pointing an accusing finger at her brother.

"Hah! You're just sore because I'm so awesome." Boasted the young teen.

Instead of answering them, Naruto turned to the kids and asked, "So, would anyone like to tell me how Sokka won this time?"

"Hah! I told you!" Shouted Sokka with a smug grin.

One of the kids raised her hand and said, "Um, he tricked Katara-nee-chan at the end?"

"That's right. Katara is clearly the more powerful of the two." NAruto lectured, earning a "Hah! In your face, Sokka!" from Katara. Ignoring the outburst, he continued saying, "But Sokka used his head and made good use of tactics to trick her with his boomerang in the end." That earned a "Hah! In Your face, Katara!" from Sokka. "Despite the fact that he's been on the defensive the entire time." That deflated the said boy's ego immediately and now both sibling are pouting.

"Always remember, class. The best way to win againts a more powerful opponent is by tricking them. Use evasive tactics and figure out strategies that would be best suited to either earn victory or earn yourself enough time to escape. Understand?"

"Hai, Naruto-sensei!" The kids answered in unison.

"Alright. Now everyone back to the village. You have choirs to do this afternoon." He said pointing his finger at the several blocks away. The kids groaned but did as he asked, walking away in groups chatting about the spar. He then turned to the two teens and said, "You guys did good."

"Yeah. But not good enough. I still can't do more than two Mizu Bushin at once, three if I push hard enough. And I only have three waterbending techniques that could actually be used in a fight." Katara mumbled disappointedly.

"Oh stop being an emo. At least you have waterbending techniques. All I have are the basics and glacier climbing. I can't even waterbend like you so don't think for a second you're getting any symphaty from me." Sokka argued.

NAruto merely shook his head in exasperation. It has been six months since he started teaching them and the rest of the village as much as he can about shinobi arts, his native language, and even a few customs from his homeland. The Southern Water Tribe have made great leaps in their learning. Almost everyone in the village could speak his native language passable enough to understand.

He had kept his words at taking Sokka and Katara as his personal students. They have learn much in the past six months. Mostly about unargumented taijutsu, weapons training, trap building, etc. Considering not one of them have any concept of chakra whatsoever, it took almost four months of gruelling physical conditioning and meditations to bring out the siblings' chakra. It took another month to build their chakra stores large enough to begin teaching them ninjutsu techniques.

After clearing his throat loudly to get his students' attention back on him before they could start another argument, he then said, "Anyway, we have something new to learn today so follow me." before walking towards the village.

Both brother and siste perked up at that as they followed.

"So what are we going to learn today?" Katara asked excitedly.

"Is it a new attack using wind like you used last week?" Sokka asked immediately.

"How about that water dragon you used yesterday?"

"Or maybe that cool tornado thing you did two days before?"

Naruto remained silent as he led them to shore, allowing them to ask question after question with growing excitement.

"It's something that would be very very useful once you master it." He said as he kept walking followed by the two.

This excited the two greatly that they actually skipped towards them, something Naruto was aiming for. As he kept walking, he said, "It's a very simple technique but quite difficult to master. This technique is called. . ."

SPLASH

SPLASH

Sokka and Katara spluttered up the surface of the water where they fell from, looking up at the smug looking Naruto standing on top of the water as he finished saying, "Water Walking. And by the way, I'd suggest stripping into your swim wear since winter coats are quite heavy when wet."

Both teen's eyes were as wide as saucers as their teacher just stood there atop the water surface. They never thought such thing would be possible but there he was somehow preventing himself from sinking like any normal person would have.

An hour later, all three found themselves inside Gran Gran's hut, enjoying the warmth of the kindling fire set in the center of the tent as Kana handed each of her shivering grandkids a cup of warm tea which they greatfully accepted.

"ACHOO! You're an evil evil man." Sokka, wearing at least three layers of fur blankets, groaned after a very big sneeze. Luckily he had a towel ready to blow his nose with.

Naruto, still in his blue winter coat that Kana gave him all those months ago, merely shryg his shoulder as he calmly sip on his tea as he said, "Well, I did offer you a chakra transfer to get warm but you refused."

"I don't do hugs, specially with other people of the same gender. It's just not manly." Sokka argued before giving off another huge sneaze.

Katara, who had been silently sipping on her tea and avoiding looking anywhere near the blond young man, mumbled softly, "It wasn't so bad."

But it seems it wasn't soft enugh because Sokka managed to hear her and argued, "Of course you wouldn't think it's anywhere near as bad since you finally got the chance to glomp him!"

"I don't have any idea what you mean." She stated.

"You had your arms around him." He deadpanned.

"I was merely maximazing the effects of the chakra transfer since it requires close bodily contact."

"Your hand was on his ass cheek!"

"It was cold so I didn't know where my hand landed during the chakra transfer."

"You were squeashing."

"A perfectly normal involuntary action on my part."

"You were purring and I thought that was humanly impossible."

"Am not! I just got something on my throat at the time."

"You shouted 'Take me' in his face by the end of the training."

Katara opened her mouth for comeback but none came, earning a scoff from her brother and a muffled chuckle from her grandmother. She couldn't figure out why she actually did the things she did and she almost fainted then and there due to all the blood rushing to her face. If her blush doesnt abate soon, she'll blush redder than the Fire Nation's flag. Her grandmother wasn't saying anything but she could see her desperately trying to hold her laughter. Luckily fo her, Naruto decided to intervene before her brother embarass he more.

"Chakra transfer could easily affect the recifient in a variety of ways. One of such is having the recifient experience a sudden rush of adrenalin and other body chemicals that momentarily causes one's body to act as if inhiberated. In other words, she somehow got drunk with chakra and may not be aware of what she was doing at the time."

"T-that's right. I was drunk so I didn't knew what I was doing." Katara immediately said after him.

"Riiiiiiiight. Like I'll believe that." Sokka deadpanned, giving his blushing sister a half lidded glare, causing their grandmother to finally let out a high pitch laughter she was holding.

"S-shut up, Sokka!" Fortunately for Katara's sanity, Naruto didn't react much except sip his tea in silence, but there was still a slight hint of a blush on his cheeks.

Naruto cleared his throat loudly and when all attention was on him he said, "Anyway, tommorow you'll be practicing the technique again. This time, I'll only be doing a chakra transfer no more than three times. The day after that I'll only do two. And after that only once. If after that and you still can't do the technique then you'll have to rough it out. And by th way, Sokka, technically, I don't need to hug you to do a chakra transfer. Placing my hand on the back of your neck is enough."

Katara tried to hide her disappointed pout and failed miserably while Sokka was complaining why he wasn't told earlier. Kana was chuckling at her grandchildren's antics. She had to be blind not to see that Katara have a huge crush on the blond teen. KAna had talked about it with NAruto but the blond teen was sure it would just go away on its own, although Kana had her doubts about that. And despite Sokka's casual attitude towards Naruto, his actions speaks of his respect for his teacher.

An hour later, when her grankids, as well as most of the village, are asleep, she followed the young man outside. He had this certain habit to sit by the top of the village walls at night and look at the stary sky whenever he couldn't sleep, like what's been happening quite often this past couple of days.

Naruto, sitting at his usua spot, felt the old woman approach. She gave her a smile which she returned as she sat beside him. For several minutes, neither said a word, both content at staring at the moonless night sky.

"You've felt it too, haven't you." It was more of a statement than a question, and NAruto understood it.

"Yeah." The blond man answered seriously. "Something bad is coming and I feel responsible for it somehow."

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But you're doing your best to prepare us for it. All the children that you had been teaching are already manifesting their chakra and my grandchildren, especially, are becoming very powerful warriors through your tutelage."

"But what if it's not enough? What if whatever is out there is more than they could handle? Sokka have potential but he's still very rough around the edges. Katara' true potential is in her waterbending but I can't teach her something I myself have no idea about. The children would soon be ready for basic shinobi studies but it would take years bnefore they are even proficient enough to go toe to toe with normal thugs. I don't like the idea of you guys facing whatever it is out there on your own after I leave."

"The Southern Water Tribe will endure like it has or hundred of years. I know of your plan to leave someday and although it would pain me to see newest part of my family go, your destiny lies somewhere out there. You shouldn't burden yourself of us because we are survivors. The best you can do is keep doing what you're doing for the moment. Make our children strong so they would have a better chance to pend for themselves."

There was silence once more as Naruto took in Kana's words. Then, he gave the old woman a grateful smile and said, "Thanks, Kana-obaa-san."

There was nothing else to say. Naruto's original plan remains. He still plan to leave, but not bfore teaching the village as much as he can. He plans to search for a way home. And he still plan to face whatever it is the is coming and figure out why he feels its connected to it somehow.

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Fire Nation soldiers at the palace docking bay stare in awe as Princess Azula and her two friends engage themselves in a three way all out brawl. Not only are the three females exerting deadly amount of combat skills, but all three are doing it on the surface of the water several meters off the docks without sinking into its watery depth.

"KATON: GOKAKYU NO JUTSU!" Azula shouted as she sprouted a fire ball almost as big as herself at her two friends who jumped out of the way.

While airborn, Mai took out a small scroll from her hidden pockets and spread them open before pouring a significant amount of chakra into it. Hundreds of throwing needles shot out of the said scroll and made a ballistic arc towards Azula and the landing Ty Lee.

The soldiers cringed when Ty Lee was riddled with at least a dozen needles on every part of her body and collapse, only to be surprised when Ty Lee puffed into smoke only to be replaced by a piece of driftwood.

They were more surpised when Ty Lee appeared underneat where Mai landed and gave the weapons girl a kick to the chin, ropelling the girl upward. Ty Lee immediately followed her airborn friend and shouted, "SHI SHI RENDAN!" as she pummeled the other girl with several combination of kicks in mid air.

Too bad for Ty Lee that Mai turned out to be the same drift wood that she replaced herself earlier. "Darn. A Kawarimi." Then, she suddeny felt a blade from behind very close to her neck.

"Yeild." Mai said smugly with a smirk, which disappeared immediately when she felt another blade on her throat.

"You yeild." Azula said smugly from behind as she held a dagger on Mai's neck.

Both girls frown suddenly when Ty Lee disappeared in a puff of smoke and another Ty Lee suddenly burst out of the water between them, placing an explosive tag on each of their legs. "Hah! I win."

Both girls gave her a glare that she returned with a smug look as she said, "Uh-uh, girls. We wouldn't like your legs getting blown off, do you. One wrong move and I let go, thus activating the tags."

"Darn. It was a Bushin." Mai scowled.

"You do realize this would mean swift retribution, Ty Lee." Azula threatened as she glare at the bubbly girl.

Ty Lee merely gave her two scowling friends a smug grin in reply.

Suddenly, all three girls turn to the side, where Hien, a survivor of the Fifth Boarder Patrol and part of Sasuke's guards, appeared in a swirl of leaves on top of the water. All members of the Fifth have been trained by Sasuke in order for them to survive the numerous assassination attempts on his life.

"Princess Azula." Hien saluted.

"What is it, Hien?" She asked seriously, knowing that the only reason Sasuke's guards would interup their training is when something concerning Sasuke himself is about to happen.

"Your highness, we have recieved orders just now to escort Sasuke-sensei to the Fire Lord." Hein said, earning a gasp frm the three girls.

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Sasuke walked through the door of the throne room like he owned the place, his guard escorts, the four survivors of the Fifth Boarder Patrol, at his side. Heeding no mind at most of the assembled generals looking at him with supressed rage. After six whole months held in self-inflicted captivity, the Fire Lord finally decided to meet him. Don't get him wrong, he could have walked out a free man anytime he wanted to, Princess Azula had made sure to get pardon for his crimes, but he couldn't be persuaded to leave his cell. When one folish general decided to interogate him, all twenty of his guards didn't even realize something was wrong until their commanding officer fell to the floor, his head rolling away from his body. All they saw Sasuke do is generate a ball of lightning on his hand before it dissipitate a second later.

That was just the first of several other attempted murder on him. Azula tied to interfere on his behalf but Sasuke told her not to interfere. She made her complaint to the Fire Lord but he basically said the same thing, let those fools try and do not interfere. As conpensation, he woud ignore the deaths of the ones who tried.

She need not worry since Sasuke had dealth with every and all attempts on his life. The ony time he had left his cell is when he went after the masterminds. At least one high level official would die publicly in the most gruesome of ways whenever he left his cell. The other generals tried to set him againts rivals and such but Sasuke always managed to kill the real culprit no matter how elaborate their plan is. And after he was done, he would return to his cell and stay there.

Sasuke reached the bottom steps on the throne and his guards kneeled in front of the Fire Lord as he stay standing, his eyes staring straight at the man.

Most of the Fire Lord's advisors tried to berate him for showing such disrespect but Sasuke and the Fire Lord heed them no mind.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, earning him several angry protests and threats from the said advisors.

Instead of reprimanding the stoic teen, he raised his hand to indicate silence, which the assembled people there obeyed immediately. Then, with a voice that broke no argument, he ordered, "Everyone else, leave."

The assembled advisors tried to protest but a burst of killing intent from the Fire Lord stopped those protests dead in their tracks. They left the room quickly and soon the only people left in the room are the Fire Lord, Sasuke, and the four guards.

"That includes you, daughter, and your friends." The Fire Lord said a moment later.

Three puffs of smoke obscured three of Sasuke's guard except for Zhun-se. When the smoke cleared, there in the place of the guards are Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai. Azula, with the sheated Kusanagi Blade tied on her back, was just about to protest in being included in the meeting but a look from Sasuke prevented her from getting any word out. She was about to try again but Ty Lee and Mai decided to drag her out of the throne room as fast as they can. Zhun-se followed the girls out.

As soon as the two were alone, the Fire Lord stood up from his elevated throne and said one thing, "Come."

Sasuke followed th man out into a side door silently. They walk through empty hallways and climb several sets of stairs for several minutes until they came out a small beautifully decorated garden on the top of the tallest of the palace towers. In the middle of the garden, surrounded by patches of well maintained grass, is an open daias with a small tea table in the middle and two sitting pillows.

The Fire Lord sat at one end and indicated Sasuke to take the other. As soon as both had sat, a young servant girl bought a tea set and placded it on the table before leaving again with a bow to the two men.

The Fire Lord gracefully poured himself and Sasuke on the two simple decorated cups provided and offered one to Sasuke who took it calmly. Both men sip their own tea silently while enjoying the great view from their spot.

After several minutes of comfortable silence, the Fire Lord finally broke it by saying, "You have trained my daughter well."

There was several minutes of silence until Sasuke nodded and said, "But not enough to face what is to come. At least not yet."

"So you know of the coming storm?"

"I am. And it would get worse."

"Yes, I agree. I've already recieve several incidents about strange animals appearing in the wild and of a few reports about monsters slaughtering men in and out of my lands. For the moment, it is a minor neiusance. But as you said, it would get worse in time."

"Your people needs to prepare or else they will be ill equipt to face them. They need training."

"Would you provide my people with this needed training?"

"I will teach the guards assigned to me. They, in turn, will train the rest. Azula-hime and her friends will be personally trained by me."

The Fire Lord nodded at that, expressing his gratitude without saying anything at all.

"Have my daughter ever mentioned Prince Zuko?"

"Rarely." Sasuke said flatly before a smirk adjourned his face. "A crappy way to teach him of the strength of one's resolve, though."

Ozai was impressed. This young man is smarter than Azula ever said he was. With limited information, he had analyzed and discover the true meaning of his son's exile.

"If he is to rule after me then he must be prepared to meet each and every opposition head on with out mercy, even if he's to go againts his own father." The Fire Lord nodded with a small scowl that disappeared immediately to be replaced by the calmness the Fire Lord had been displaying the entire time.

"How many did you sent to support him?"

"None as of the moment. My uncle, a former general, would keep him alive for the time being. How long before the captain of your guards is effecient enough to teach?"

"Too long to consider. I suggest you send one of Azula's friends after four months."

"Which one do you suggest?"

Sasuke gave the other man a smirk as he said, "The one eavesdropping on our conversation." He then turned sharply to the side, where a small squeak was heard over the edge of the tower.

Soon enough, Ty Lee climb onto the small garden. She ginned sheepishly at the two powerful men, hoping to minimize her punishment. When that didn't seem to work, she hung her head and bowed low enough for her head to touch the floor in front of them.

The Fire Lord gave Sasuke a raised eyebrow, silently asking how she managed to climb all the way up the tower.

Answering he said, "Tree Climbing. A simple technique to increase control of the body's spiritual energy. Allows anyone to walk on any solid horizontal surfaces. She is also the most proficient in energy suppression as of today so you didn't felt her presence."

"I see." He said nodding at Sasuke before addressing Ty Lee herself, "I do hope, young lady, that you are someone who values discreetion?"

"A-as you command, M-my Lord. N-No one else w-would ever hear of your c-conversation." She said silently, shaking like a leaf.

The Fire Lord nodded before turning back to Sasuke. "I thank you for your time, Sasuke Uchiha. I hope we could have other conversations like this in the future."

Sasuke knew a dismissal when he hears one. He gave the other man a nod before silently leaving through the door, the nervous Ty Lee following silently behind him.

As they reach the bottom of the fifth flight of stairs, the two were met by his guards, the princess, Mai, a few dozen guards, and the assembled advisors demanding to know what had happened while Ty Lee was immediately grabbed by Azula and Mai for her own interogation.

A wide spread potent killing intent had silenced everyone cold. He felt a small amount of pride seeing Zhun-se, her men, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee fighting off the suppressing aura. With his killing intent pouring out, the assembled men parted like the Red Sea as he walked out of there followed by his guards and his three students.

As soon as they were out of ear shot, he reigned in his killer intent and addressed the seven people following him. "Six months. All of you are going to be put through the most intense traing you will ever get in the next six months."

Everyone gulped at that. Sasuke's current training regimen is already quite tough. They just hope they survive the coming six months.

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A/N: This is a filler chapter before the start of the actual series in Avatar. Azula does sound a bit OOC but that would end real soon.

Thanks to all those who review.