Chapter 6: Avatar's Rage
Earth Kingdom's Great Desert
Aang flew over the great desert, looking for his lost bison. He blew out from his special whistle, trying to signal Appa to come for him. But with each blow, nothing flew up to greet him. He sighed and rubbed the bruise where Naruto had hit him.
"Appa!" Aang called out, and he blew his whistle again. Still nothing and he reluctantly put his whistle in his pocket.
"Aang cut it out! We do care for Appa, Toph did all she could!" Naruto told him angrily and the Airbender scrambled onto his feet. "Stop being a baby, the only one thinking about themselves is you."
'…what did he do that? Can't he see…I'm looking for my best friend!' Aang thought to himself as he bore his teeth, flicked his wrist and retracted the wings into his staff. "Appa! Appa!"
He looked around as he landed, calling out his bison's name again and again. His anger kept bubbling up until he couldn't take it anymore, it was like a shaken up bottle of wine was inside of him, and he had to release the cork.
"No…NO!" Aang roared as he spun around and lifted his staff high into the sky, and then he slammed it down releasing a massive wind-blast straight into a sand dune. The release of energy was so intense, the rising cloud of kicked up sand plumed into a mushroom cloud, as if a nuclear explosion had hit the desert.
From the temporary house that Yamato had created, Sokka sat, barely coherent on the steps of the house and Katara and Kakashi was watching him. They saw the plume of dust rising in the background, and a wave of dust hit them. The silver-haired jounin, the Waterbending Master, and the drunken Water Tribe warrior covered their eyes as it ceased.
"What is that?" Katara asked as she looked as Kakashi pulled up his headband, revealing the Sharingan.
"…there was a massive release of Chakra out there…" Kakashi said as his Sharingan eye squinted, the tomoes rotating as if they were giving a telescopic vision.
"…it's a giant mushroom…!" Sokka muttered in drunken awe as he raised his hands. "Maybe it's friendly!"
"I'm going to go check on Hinata…" Katara said as she stood up and started walking into the house. "I just hope Aang's okay…"
"That was Aang," Kakashi stated and the Waterbending Master looked back at him. "He's too far away to get to on foot, but that was him releasing that energy. He needs to cool off…"
"Friendly Mushroom!" Sokka called out as he lifted his hands up high again and he swayed back and forth. "Mushy roomy friend…!"
Katara nodded, and she entered the room as a tear trickled down her cheek. 'I just hope he stays safe until he gets back to us…'
Toph was moping in a corner of the room. "…hi Katara…any sign of Aang?"
"Kakashi used his Sharingan to see him in the distance, he released this massive blast of wind into the dunes creating a mushroom cloud," Katara replied as she knelt next to the other girl. "Are you doing okay?"
"…yeah, just not everyday when one of your friends chews you out on something…" Toph replied as she wiped a tear from her eye. "I did all I could to save Appa…and he didn't listen!"
"Aang's really going through something right now," Katara said as she put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "And we all know that you did your best."
Toph sniffled softly, and wiped her nose with her forearm. "…that Naruto guy's alright…he actually defended me from that. He punched 'Twinkle Toes' didn't he?"
"I don't agree with what he did, but yes, Naruto did punch Aang after he criticized your actions," Katara replied with a small smile. "Naruto really seems to defend his 'teammates' a lot…"
"He's cool…" Toph agreed, and she smiled. "Thanks Katara, I feel better now."
"I'm going to go check on Hinata now," Katara stated as she walked away from the other young bender.
Hinata had been taken into another room that had better ventilation compared to the main 'living' room that was in the center of Yamato's grown/summoned house. The coat she was wearing prior to entering the desert was being used as a pillow to prop up her head, and there was a bowl of water near her head as well so the cloth could be dampened again and again to attempt to cool her off. Naruto sat watching her, gently wiping her forehead with the cloth that Sakura made out of her sleeve.
"How's she doing, Naruto?" Katara asked as she knelt down by the blond-haired jinchuuriki.
"…I think better, her face doesn't feel as hot as it did before," Naruto replied as he callously rubbed the Hyuuga Heiress' face gently. "Sakura-chan said she'll be fine after a few hours of cooling down…and she'll have adapted to this climate, whatever that means."
Katara nodded, and poured some water on her hands, and they began to glow. She placed them over Hinata's forehead, and the glow began to make the Hyuuga face recede from the red color that it was before to lighter shade of pink. Her breathing softened, and Katara sighed with relief.
"She's out of harm right now, but she's still a little overheated, she just needs rest right now," Katara told Naruto, who gave a smirk.
"Thanks," Naruto said as he rubbed Hinata's face again. His stomach growled, but he ignored it. 'Her skin is so soft…it's like touching silk…'
"I'm glad I could help…I'm going to wait for Aang now, if that's alright," Katara told him, and then she giggled. "Kakashi said that Sokka got himself drunk off of some cactus juice, I'd better see if he won't do anything rash. He's kind of funny right now."
"I'll be out soon, I just want to be 100 percent sure that Hinata-chan's okay," Naruto told the Waterbending Master, who nodded and left the room. His stomach growled again, and he put his hand on his stomach and winced. 'Damn it; just be quiet a little longer! I want to be sure Hinata-chan will be alright!'
His stomach ceased it's growling, and he looked down at Hinata again. He was amazed on how much she had changed since the Chuunin Exams of so long ago, she looked stronger and…beautiful, he thought. He shook that out of his head for a second, and thought how much stronger she had become while they were away.
His eyes then, unexpectedly, wandered down to her…assets, and he shook his head. 'I'm not a pervert like Ero-sennin!'
With that, he crossed his arms and pouted. His stomach began to growl again, and Hinata let out a soft moan, making him jump. She shifted in her lying position, and rolled over to face him. This surprised him, making him leap back and breathe out. He noticed her face was a few shades pinker, almost near her original color.
"W-Well, it looks like she's going to be alright now, I'll just let her sleep," Naruto said to himself as he blushed and began sweating in embarrassment, although there was no one to see it. He walked to the door and looked back as he opened it. "Sleep well, Hinata-chan."
With that, he exited the room and went towards the kitchen to get something to eat. He blushed to himself when he thought about Hinata, and wondered 'Where the hell did that come from?' as he hurried himself inside.
Night began to fall, and as the sun set, Aang glided above the dunes thinking. He couldn't get Naruto's words out of his head, and he began to feel ashamed of his harsh words towards his friends. He looked down and saw the house that Yamato grew, and mistook it for a resident of the desert.
'Maybe they've seen Appa!' Aang thought as he soared down to the ground, but he was surprised to see Kakashi and Sokka either sitting on the steps or, in the silver-haired Jounin's case, leaning back against the wall reading his book. "What are you guys doing here? Where did this house come from?"
"Yamato used a Mokuton jutsu to grow it from the ground," Kakashi replied as he looked up. "We were hoping to make more ground, but Hinata-san collapsed from heatstroke."
Aang's eyes widened. "What…?"
"Hinata-san collapsed of heatstroke earlier today, while you were off blowing some steam," Kakashi explained simply, and he saw the Avatar's horrified look. "She's in the perfect care however, Sakura has been treating her, and Naruto has been watching over her to see any change in her condition."
"…that's good…" Aang muttered sadly, and he started to walk up the steps and Sokka looked up at him, with dilated eyes. "What happened to him?"
"Drank some fermented cactus juice, so he's a little drunk right now," Kakashi replied as he turned a page in Icha Icha Paradise.
"Aang, did you see that big friendly mushroom out there?" Sokka asked drunkenly, pointing out to the horizon. "It looked big and friendly!"
Aang smirked, then just pushed open the canvas door and walked into the house. He looked around to see Toph reclining against the wall with a piece of wheat in her mouth. She was staring at the ceiling with her blind eyes, and she felt the Airbender's footsteps through the wood.
"Well looks whose back, looking to yell at me again?" Toph asked, making Aang rub his arm.
"…sorry Toph, I got angry and let it out on you," Aang replied, and then he rubbed his cheek. "Know where I can find Naruto and Katara?"
"Naruto's probably in the kitchen; don't know where Katara is. I could hear Naruto's stomach growling from here, so he's probably incredibly hungry," Toph replied as Aang nodded. "Who'd of thought you could grow something like this…"
Aang nodded, and he started walking where he thought the kitchen would be. He opened the canvas door, sliding it over and saw Naruto cooking up some of his favorite ramen. Good thing he decided to take some in his pack, or else he'd be on cold turkey from his favorite food for a long while. He turned around with a hot bowl of the noodle-soup, and saw Aang coming towards him.
"So finally stopped acting like a brat?" Naruto joked as he sniffed his ramen, and Aang breathed out as he ground his teeth.
"…yes, you were right, I shouldn't have acted that way towards you guys," Aang said as he watched Naruto sit down, and Katara walked in. "How's Hinata?"
"She's doing much better, thanks to Sakura-chan and Katara-chan," Naruto replied as the Waterbending Master walked over.
"Yes, her fever's gone and now she's just resting. Hinata's body will be better prepared to handle the heat of the desert after this," Katara added, and she looked at the Airbender. "Any luck finding Appa?"
Aang shook his head sadly, and Naruto sighed. "We'll find him, nii-san, you can count on that," he added, showing off Rock Lee's good-guy pose, and his teeth actually glinted. "That's a promise you can count on for a lifetime."
"What was that thing you just did?" Aang asked as Naruto grinned.
"Fuzzy Eyebrows 'Good Guy' pose, that his sensei Maito Gai taught to him," Naruto replied with a grin. "Found it's a great way to pledge a promise, so I just copied what Fuzzy Eyebrows does."
"Who's Fuzzy Eyebrows?" Katara asked, not getting his nickname for Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast.
"Oh, yeah, Rock Lee, one of the best taijutsu fighters in Konoha," Naruto replied, and he grinned. "Because he can't do ninjutsu or genjutsu, he only uses hand-to-hand fighting or taijutsu in combat. He's the hardest working guy I've ever seen as well, and he's a powerful ninja."
"Sounds like a cool guy," Katara said as Naruto nodded. Kakashi entered the kitchen.
"We'll have to be moving out soon, since Hinata-san will be alright," Kakashi informed them. He noticed a somber look pass onto Aang's face. "Something wrong, Aang?"
"We won't survive without Appa, we all know that," Aang told them, making Naruto laugh. "What?"
"You, you've already given up hope after I gave you the good-guy pose! We can't lose hope, nii-san," Naruto told him.
"Come on Aang, we can do this if we all work together," Katara added, as she turned to Kakashi and Naruto. "Right, Naruto, Kakashi?"
"Yep, that's right. As long as we stay together as a team, we will survive this, get Beaver-san back, and then get to Ba Sing Se. After that, we kick ass all the way to the Fire Lord's doorstep," Naruto told Aang, who still looked somber.
"So, any ideas on how to even find Ba Sing Se then?" Aang asked Kakashi and the blond genin.
"We'll use the star maps that Sokka brought out of the Library," Kakashi replies as he smirks underneath his mask. "Though we should have brought some warmer clothing off of Appa's saddle…" the airbender's head immediately sulks at the mention of his bison's name. "…since the desert has a climate of extremes, incredibly hot during daytime, freezing cold around midnight."
"We might as well get going then," Katara said as she stood up, and stretched her legs. "We have enough water on us to last a few weeks; hopefully it'll be enough to get us out of this place."
Sakura walked into the room with a slightly groggy Hinata. "So what's the diagnosis, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with a grin.
"Hinata will be fine, just has to take it easy for a couple hours," Sakura replied with a smile, and Hinata began to blush.
"I'm sorry I slowed everyone down today…" Hinata muttered and Naruto shook his head at that.
"It's okay, you're better and that's all that matters," Naruto said with his trademark grin, making the pink-haired kunoichi raise an eyebrow.
Hinata began to blush and put her hands to her face in surprise at what Naruto said, and he chuckled nervously. "Naruto always will watch out for a teammate Hinata…" Sakura stated with a lopsided smile, and Aang and Katara chuckled at the scene.
"I'm all packed up here and ready to send the house back," Yamato informed everyone in the kitchen, hauling a wooden backpack on his back.
"Sokka's drunk, so we should be careful…" Kakashi informed them, making them laugh. "He could be a danger to us and himself, so we'll watch out for him.
They all nodded as Toph and Sokka walked, or in case of the latter, staggered into the room. The Earthbending Master was clearly ready to set off; she had one of the ANBU Captain's wooden backpacks fasten to her back.
"I'm all set too, ready to carry my own weight…" Toph started with a grin, as if she could feel the look that Aang and Katara were giving her. "…and help the team."
Kakashi looked around, his former/current students smirking at the blind Earthbending Master's mannerism. "Before we go any further, since we are all a team now, and Appa is one of our teammates, we should all remember this: one who abandons a mission is trash, but those who abandon their teammates to death-they are lower than trash. So that's why we never leave a teammate behind, and that's why we're going to get Appa back."
Everyone agreed at that, and Aang started feeling better from the silver-haired Jounin's statement. Everyone helped each other get ready for the journey, and they exited the house Yamato grew, and it sank back into the sand, it's usefulness temporarily over.
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Land of Fire, near Konoha
Konoha Chuunin Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba, with his large dog Akamaru, bound through the forest, returning from a routine D-Class Mission in one of the smaller villages near Konoha. Their former sensei, Yuhi Kurenai didn't attend the mission, she was aiding her lover Sarutobi Asuma recover from an attack the Akatsuki inflicted upon him. And since Hinata was missing with Naruto's team, they were two members short during their mission. The dog shinobi furrowed his eyebrows as he leapt to a branch and stopped.
"Why the hell did Hinata have to end up missing with Naruto's lousy team, she could get hurt!" Kiba growled as Shino stopped at a tree-branch above and across from him. The dog shinobi cared for the Hyuuga Heiress as an older brother cared for a younger sibling, and was very worried about her welfare.
"You know as well as I do, Hinata-san is strong enough to take care of herself. And Naruto-san and Sakura-san are strong enough to aid her and protect her if she ever ran into trouble, as well as the legendary copy-ninja Kakashi-sensei and ANBU Captain Yamato-sama are leading them, she should be more than alright when Jiraiya-sama finds a way to return them here," Shino stated in his stoic manner, and Kiba sighed at the bug using shinobi's logic. He then sat down on the branch and his large dog Akamaru barked, and Kiba nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, you're probably right Shino; I'm just worried over…" Kiba started, and his nose twitched. "We have company."
Shino nodded, and leapt further into the canopy with Kiba and Akamaru to conceal themselves. The bug user deployed several of his Kikai (Destruction) Bugs to survey what the unknown intruders. There were a troop of twenty men, wearing strange red armor and armed with spears marching through the forest beneath them, and from what Kiba and Shino noted; they were well trained soldiers. One of the bug user's insects crawled on a leaf to get a closer look and listen.
"General Mao has ordered us to survey the area and start construction of a base near the village," one of the soldiers ordered while Shino's bug listened in. "This will become the foothold for the Fire Nation to invade, and we'll make Fire Lord Ozai proud!"
The soldiers all gave a hearty yell, feeling victory would soon be there. Shino's bug flew up and informed the bug user of the information. Shino's eyebrows raised, and Kiba noted that.
"So what's the deal, are they a division of the Daimyo's army?" Kiba asked in a whisper. "That looks like a symbol for the Land of Fire."
Shino shook his head after he listened to his bug's information. "They seem like Land of Fire and the Daimyo's Soldiers, yet their symbol, instead of being red or white is a black flame. They also refer to where they come from as the 'Fire Nation', which is ruled by a 'Fire Lord' named Ozai."
Kiba nodded. "Then what are they doing here?"
"Apparently making a base camp to invade Konoha," Shino replied simply as his stood up, and held out his arms. His bugs began flowing out from underneath his sleeves and they began to form a swarming mass around them. "Before we get back to Konoha, we'd better stop them."
"Right!" Kiba cheered softly, and Akamaru added his own enthusiastic yet quiet bark. "Farming really doesn't give me a workout, hopefully these guys can oblige."
"Be careful, we don't know the full extent of their abilities," Shino warned stoically, but his teammate had already leapt into the formation of Fire Nation soldiers with a kunai drawn.
Shino sighed as he joined his teammate, and the Fire Nation soldiers all pointed their spears at the dog ninja. Akamaru landed momentarily, and began barking viciously at the new enemies spears, grabbing onto the stave of one of their spears and throwing them into the tree.
"Men, we have intruders!" the captain, or what appeared to be the captain of the troop roared. "Kill them!"
"Yeah, right," Kiba muttered as he dodged a thrust from a nearby spear, and used his Kunai to shatter it. He then sank down, almost crouching, and he smirked as his fangs enlarged. "Shikyaku no Jutsu! (Four Legs Technique!)"
Chakra began wafting off his arms and legs as his muscles and tendons were supercharged with energy, and his fingernails grew to large claws. He then charged the closest Fire Nation Soldier, slamming his elbow right into his enemy's gut, shattering the man's armor. The Fire Nation Soldier went flying, and he ended up sprawled against a tree trunk, twitching slightly from the attack.
"How was that?" Kiba asked with bravado. "Because I'm not done yet!"
Suddenly, a couple of the masked soldiers fired several blasts of flame at Kiba using a punching motion. The dog shinobi leaped back, surprised, and he continued to dodge the blasts in surprise. Akamaru, who was dealing with several Fire Nation soldiers leapt towards his master, using the Tsuuga (Piercing Fang) to deflect the fire blasts, and Kiba hopped onto him when his dog landed.
"Man, what kind of jutsu's are those?" Kiba asked as Akamaru began bounding between the trees to avoid the fire blasts. "They don't even use hand seals!"
Akamaru barked as he leapt over a spear and charged right for a few other soldiers. "Where's Shino, damn it!"
Shino was observing in the bushes what the Fire Nation soldiers were doing. 'Interesting…they don't need to use hand seals to perform Fire Jutsu's…'
His bugs flew off to scout out the area some more. Something large and heavy was plowing through the forest, knocking down trees like they were saplings. From the vibrations the bug-shinobi could feel, it was on wheels and they could move independently from each other. It could be trouble…
Shino watched his teammate and his partner dodge the fire blasts, and Kiba tossed a few kunai which the fire users dodged. Another one of the soldiers had joined in, it was the captain, lobbing fireballs at Kiba and Akamaru through punches and kicks.
"They're Konoha Shinobi men, do not go easy on them!" the captain ordered, throwing a large blast of fire at Kiba, knocking the dog shinobi off his steed.
"Ouch!" Kiba yelled, and he patted the fire off black jacket, and took it off, revealing his samurai-esque plate armor. He grinned. "Looks like I have to get serious…"
He took a little pack from his belt, and tossed a pill into his mouth. His muscles tensed and his eyes widened, Kiba took on a feral look as his chakra was increased. The pill he took was a soldier pill, and he tossed one to Akamaru. His dog swallowed the pill in one gulp, and his fur turned fire red and he increased in size. Akamaru let out a roar, which made the normal Fire Nation soldiers step back.
"Alright! Now we'll kick your asses!" Kiba cheered as the chakra swirled around his body, and he dodged a fire blast and leaped onto Akamaru's back, doing a hand seal. "Juujin Bushin (Beast Human Clone)!"
Instantly, Akamaru transformed into an exact copy of Kiba, and they both charged one of the Fire Blasters, as Kiba nicknamed them as such. They roared and the dog shinobi tossed a smoke bomb into the fray, blinding the Fire Blasters. Several fireballs exploded out of the smoke cloud, the soldier clearly not being able to see the two Kibas. They leapt into the air, roaring "GATSUUGA (Double Piercing Fang)!" and they spun at incredible speeds, and slammed into the Fire Blaster, sending him slamming into one of the oridinary soldiers.
"YA!" the Captain roared, sending a massive fire blast aimed at the Kibas. It slammed into one of them, and yell of pain was heard.
"Damn!" Kiba cursed as the Beast Clone Jutsu wore off, and in a puff of smoke Akamaru became visible again.
"I don't see what's so great about ninjas if a bender on my level could do that…" the Captain said arrogantly, sending fire into his palm, making a dagger with the flame. Kiba instinctively pulled out another kunai. "Now, you will die."
"He will not," the voice belonging to Shino said. "Unless, of course, you want all your men to die here."
"Show yourself!" the Captain ordered, and the Bug User leaped out of the bushes, his hands engulfed in a swarm of Kikai Bugs. The Captain's eyes narrowed. "You actually expect to beat me an my other fire benders with bugs?"
"Yes," Shino replied flatly, and behind his glasses his eyes equally narrowed.
The Firebending Captain smirked evilly, and launched five simultaneous fireballs at Shino, taking several steps with each punch. The bug using shinobi leaped into the air to avoid the blasts, and the other standing firebender joined in. Kiba watched as his teammate was hit by one of the blasts, and gasped. The Captain smirked, but it faded when the burning human dissolved into several hundred thousand insects, all of which were unharmed by the fireball.
"What the hell?" the Captain muttered as Shino reappeared in a corner of his eye, and he shot another blast of flame at the bug-shinobi. Again, the result was the same, but he failed to notice several of the insects landed on himself and his subordinate. The Kikai bugs crawled underneath their armor before they could notice, and he began to look around. "Come out, you coward!"
Shino then rose out of the ground, with a kunai drawn, and he placed it at the other Firebender's neck. "I suggest you surrender if you don't want your men, and yourself to die."
"Like hell!" the Captain roared, slamming his foot down and thrusting his fist out in a punch, expecting a blast of fire to fly out of his fist, but all he got was a tiny blast that fizzled out. "What the hell?" He tried again, but this time no blasts came out at all.
Suddenly, several of his soldiers collapsed, and he looked around in disbelief. "I placed several of my Kikai bugs on your men with each blast of fire you shot at me. There are several hundred crawling beneath your armor, and your friend's here. The reason why you can't fire anymore blasts is because they've started eating off more than your excess chakra. In a few minutes, you and your men will be little more than husks of dried out meat."
Kiba chuckled lightly, and a few blue lines seemed to appear on his face. 'That's Shino for you…' Even three years of being teammates, the dog shinobi was still freaked out at Shino's callousness after executing a genius plan to use his bugs to their full advantage.
"W-Why weren't your bugs burned to death by my fire blasts?"
"They individually put up a chakra shield to shrug off your flames," Shino replied simply, holding the kunai closer to the firebending soldier's neck.
The Fire Nation Captain looked at his hands as he saw several bugs crawling on them. He let out a bloodcurdling scream as all the bugs came out of his armor, making themselves visible to him. He tried in vain to shake them off, but it was no use. He sweated profusely, and then collapsed.
His subordinate's eyes rolled back into his head as he too collapsed, and Shino let him fall. Akamaru limped over; his leg had a first degree burn on it. Kiba was relatively unharmed, except for a few minor burns. He walked over his partner, and began to take out a salve of healing cream that Hinata had made for them a month ago. He tabbed his fingers into the white cream, and rubbed it gently on his dog's leg when rumbling was felt.
"What the hell is that?" Kiba asked as he looked around, trying to find the source of the rumbling.
"We should make ourselves scarce," Shino told his teammate, who nodded and they leaped into the trees. Akamaru leapt behind one of the large branches, due to his wound making it unable for him to get into the treetops.
"I suppose your bugs told you what was coming for us," Kiba asked in a harsh whisper.
"It's apparently an armored vehicle, self-propelled, and weighs about 10-20 tonnes," Shino replied in his stoic manner. "It is propelled by four large wheels with spikes on them, and seems to have a turret on top."
"Is that all? We're screwed," Kiba shrugged as the vehicle came into view. It pushed down multiple trees before coming to a stop in the area of the ambush. He glanced at where Akamaru was, and he sighed in relief when he saw that his partner had gone deeper into the woods. "Well, what's the plan?"
"We wait," Shino told his teammate simply, sending some Kikai bugs down from his sleeve to make them crawl down from the tree. They moved under the vehicle as a hatch on top of the turret opened, and a Fire Nation soldier peeked out.
"What happened here…?" he asked as he looked around, and hopped out of the hatch. The bugs suddenly started to crawl into the vehicle, keeping themselves silent and hidden, and crawled around the black shadows inside to keep themselves hidden from the rest of the crew.
The Fire Nation Soldier walked to the unconscious Firebending Captain, and bent down to shake him. "Sir! General Mao ordered you to…" he stopped mid-sentence as he got a good look at the Captain's withered face. "AH!"
The Captain's face looked like it had dried out and been mummified, and the Soldier looked around in fright to see most of the soldiers and the other Firebender in the same state. He then saw the unconscious soldiers, and then a yell came from the vehicle he came out of. He looked to see the crew running out of it, covered in a swarm of insects.
"What the hell is happening here?" the Soldier asked in fear, and suddenly a kunai appeared at his throat.
"An ambush," Shino told him as he held the kunai closer to the soldier's throat. "Surrender."
The Fire Nation soldier dropped his spear, and raised his hands. He looked as his crew writhed around in pain on the ground, and suddenly they stopped. Shino's bugs then crawled off their dried out corpses, crawling back up the bug user's body and disappearing into holes on his face.
Kiba walked towards the vehicle, and slammed his hand into its armored hull. "First off, mind telling us what the hell this thing is?"
"We'll take him for interrogation by Ibiki-sama, to see how much he knows," Shino said as Kiba nodded, and he looked at the vehicle. "A team will have to be sent back to retrieve the machine however."
Kiba nodded and he tied some rope around the Fire Nation soldier's wrists, and Akamaru tackled him. The dog shinobi laughed as his partner smothered his face with his tongue, making Kiba laugh and push his dog off of him. After a few minutes, they left the scene, bounding off for Konoha.
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Earth Kingdom's Great Desert
Navigating through the use of the stars, Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Kakashi, Yamato, Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Toph had made it quite a ways through the desert. The young Avatar was starting to feel crestfallen about not being able to find his bison, but the words of the blond jinchuuriki still burned in his ears. Right now, they had to focus on staying alive and then finding Appa.
"So how are we doing on water, Katara-san?" Kakashi asked, and the waterbending master looked into her pack.
"We have enough to last two weeks, at the most," Katara replied, and everyone nodded.
"If we run out of water by then, I think I can create some more," Yamato said as Katara, Toph, Sokka, and Aang stopped.
"What do you mean 'create some more'?" Toph asked as she stumbled forward.
"Just what I meant, I could create a small river, pond, or waterfall if I needed," Yamato replied simply as they continued walking. "But since we don't need any extra water right now, I don't feel like wasting chakra out here."
Sokka, Aang, Katara, and Toph were just silent at his reply, and they began walking again. The avatar continued to look down, and Katara saw it. She saw how vulnerable and slightly unstable Aang was becoming, and she placed her hand on his shoulder.
"We will get him back, Aang," Katara told him, and he nodded as they continued walking.
Kakashi checked the map and looked up into the sky to trace the stars. He smiled underneath his mask; he rolled the map and continued walking. Hinata looked up into the sky when she heard buzzing, and her mouth dropped slightly as she saw several large wasp like creatures with vulture necks and heads.
"What are those things?" Hinata asked, pointing into the sky as several of the vulture wasps began circling over them.
"Buzzard Wasps, they live in the deserts of the world, scavenging off of the dead things that fall in the wastelands of the world," Aang replied as he watched the pattern of the circling buzzard wasps.
"The circle birds look like they want to have some fun…" Sokka mumbled in his drunken stupor, and Toph pulled him along.
Naruto looked up at the sky. "Well, none of us are dead yet…"
As they continued walking, the moon rose fully. It was a full moon, and with hardly a cloud in the sky, it gave almost as much light as the daylight sun. The nine of them trudged up another large sand dune, when Toph yawned. Kakashi realized the four younger members of the new 'team' were starting to get tired, and he lifted his hand.
"We need to rest here," Kakashi told them, and he looked up into the sky. "Thirty minutes should do it."
"Thirty minutes? Are you kidding me?" Toph asked as she sat down. "That's hardly enough time to get some sleep."
"We're on a time-table; we have to go with the night. We can get a full night of sleep in the daytime, when we'll rest," Kakashi told the blind Earthbending Master, who harrumphed at that.
They all sat down on the cool sand, and Naruto decided to try to keep everyone's spirits up with some of the missions he did when he was younger. Sokka, still drunk from the cactus juice he drank fell into a deep sleep, and Momo began to bury him the sand. Sakura began to show Toph the brail scrolls she had, and the blind Earthbender nodded and began tracing her fingers over the paper.
Yamato went into a carefully timed sleep to recuperate his chakra, Katara practiced her waterbending techniques with Hinata, and Aang just curled up and began to mope. After thirty minutes, the time allotted by Kakashi was passing quickly, and he told the Waterbending Master to wake anyone up who was still asleep.
"Come on, get up, we have to go," Katara said as she put her hands on top of the sand that was covering Sokka and she gently shook her brother.
Sokka yawned and groaned as he sat up, knocking the sand off of him, and his head twisted to the right a strange expression was plastered on his face. Toph leaned forward, and smacked her lips.
"Yesterday my mouth tasted like mud, now it just tastes like sand, I never thought I miss the taste of mud so much," Toph said as she Katara tossed her a water flask, careful to aim it at her waist. "Thanks Katara."
Naruto got up and stretched. "Sitting or sleeping on sand bites. It's not cushiony!"
Yamato woke himself up, and he squinted his eyes momentarily to adjust back to the nighttime darkness. Katara walked over to Aang, who was curled up on his side in the sand.
"I'm awake," Aang said as he continued to look away. "I couldn't sleep."
"Well, we have to get moving if we want to get out of this sand bed," Katara told him gently, and his eyes shifted to look at the sky, and he sat up.
"See something, Aang?" Kakashi asked as he put his book away.
Aang looked up into the sky right at the moon as a blob floated above them, and his eyes lit up. "Appa!"
"Where?" Naruto asked as he looked up into the sky.
Aang and everyone but Sokka stood up and looked into the sky. "Appa? Now why would Princess Yue need him? She's the moon, she flies by herself!" Sokka ranted in his drunken stupor, grabbing Momo's tail and rubbing it on his face.
The Avatar squinted to get a closer look, but to his disappointment, the blob he saw in the light of the moon wasn't his bison. His face fell slightly, eyes cast down to the sand and Katara sighed.
"…it's just a cloud," Katara said with disappointment in her voice. "…wait, a cloud!"
"What's so special about that?" Naruto asked as the Waterbending Master turned to Aang.
"Just so we have enough water, here, fly up and bend the water from that cloud into my pouch," Katara told Aang as she handed her leather flask to the Avatar, who looked at her slightly annoyed.
He grabbed it and put it on his shoulder, opened the canvas wings on his staff, and took off into the sky. Katara watched him go up, and she subconsciously shivered at the cold look he gave her. Aang was normally cheerful, but ever since Appa was captured, his mood was in a deep depression. She turned to Naruto, who shook his head at his younger friend's actions.
Aang screened the cloud twice, flying through it each time and erasing it from the skyline. Naruto squeezed his fist again, his anger rising at the Avatar's new attitude again. Aang swooped down, tossed Katara back her flask and landed, kicking up dust as the canvas wings retracted back into his staff.
"…wow, there's hardly any water in there," Katara muttered as she looked into her flask to see just a tiny bit of water.
"I'm sorry okay? It's a desert cloud I did all I could, what's anyone else doing, what are you doing?" Aang asked as he pointed his staff at Katara, and Naruto pushed it away.
"We're trying to survive," Naruto growled his hand still on the staff and he grabbed it and started to squeeze. "You didn't even try to bend water out of that cloud, did you? I thought you were freaking done with your temper tantrums about Appa!"
"N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata started, and Sakura put her hand on her friends shoulder.
"No, Naruto's right," Sakura stated as she stepped forward. "Aang, we need to work together as a team, for both getting out of this pit and finding Appa. You need to grow up and stop this."
"Both Naruto and Sakura are quite right, Aang," Kakashi stated with a sigh. "You can't let your emotions fly like this, since your not only putting yourself in danger, but others as well."
Aang looked around in disbelief, and he started shaking in rage. But, he saw the look on Katara's face.
"…I was trying to keep us all together…" Katara said quietly, a stray tear dropping out of her left eye. Kakashi handed her the map to get her mind off Aang's outburst, and she looked at it. "Let's just keep moving…" She began walking away, leading the group. "We need to go in this direction."
They continued walking, Aang at the back of the group looking downward. Naruto was standing next to Hinata and Sakura, Kakashi and Yamato were at the head of the group with Katara, and Sokka and Toph were in the middle of the group. The Earthbending Master tripped and fell, kicking up dust. Everyone stopped and looked at her, as she rubbed her foot. There was something jutting out of the sand.
"Toph-chan, are you okay?" Hinata asked as Toph kept rubbing her leg and groaned in pain.
"Crud! I'm so sick of not feeling where I'm going!" Toph yelled as she continued to rub her foot. "And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of a desert?"
"A boat?" Katara and Sakura asked. The Waterbending Master ran over to the protruding object.
"Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations," Toph replied as she finished rubbing her foot sourly, and Sokka stumbled to face them.
"This could be useful," Yamato said as Katara started to wipe the dust off the protruding bow of the boat, and Aang walked over and raised his staff.
Katara stepped away as he swung his staff, uncovering the entirety of the vessel. Naruto, the Waterbending Master, Hinata, and Sakura climbed up to the small bridge of the sand boat, and Katara's hopes rose.
"It's one of the gliders those Sandbenders used!" Katara exclaimed as she looked at the wooden pedestal in the middle of the small bridge. "It's got some kind of compass on it!"
"Compass? That could be the key to getting out of this dustbowl," Naruto said as he leaped up onto the bridge, and Hinata and Sakura climbed up too. Both he and Katara looked at the compass, and smirked.
"Yeah, I bet it can point us out of here!" Katara cheered as Kakashi and Yamato walked up.
"Nice job, Toph, you discovered a way for us to survive here," Kakashi congratulated the blind Earthbender, who grinned.
"Okay, it was completely intentional, then," Toph said with a wide grin, and Yamato helped her onto the sand glider.
"Of course," Kakashi said as he grinned under his mask.
Katara tapped the glass over the needle on the compass, making the needle pulse, swinging a tiny bit. "Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail it! We're going to make it!"
"Great idea, Katara-chan!" Naruto grinned as he looked around. Sokka was laughing and grinning stupidly as he buried a sleeping Momo in the sand. "…alright Sokka, enough with the drunken stupidity! You're worse than oba-chan is when she's had a few dozen!"
Sokka just grinned stupidly, giving the blond jinchuuriki a double thumbs up as the flying lemur stirred underneath the sand. After a few seconds of getting the glider ready to sail, the sail was opened and Aang threw a wave of wind into the cloth, and they were all propelled forward.
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Konoha
Outside the interrogation chamber, Tsunade waited for the results of the master interrogator, Morino Ibiki, who was giving the interrogation to the captured Fire Nation soldier. After Shino and Kiba had told her of the small battle they had with the Fire Nation Soldiers, she was intrigued at the method of fighting three of the soldiers used, creating fireballs without using jutsus, and shooting them from any part of their body. She had dispatched two Jounin Squads to retrieve the vehicle from the battle site, as well as dispose of the bodies.
Ibiki walked out of the interrogation chamber, his lips pursed. "I'll say one thing for him; his mind is very resilient to the standard techniques."
"Did you get anything out of him? Where he came from, and who sent him here?" Tsunade asked, and the scarred master interrogator smirked.
"Of course," Ibiki said as he began walking with the Hokage. "The vehicle he and his comrades traveled in, he called a tank. It's powered by coal, and to attack targets, a member of the crew, a 'firebender' shoots a blast of flame out of the turret."
Tsunade nodded, and pursed her lips. "I assume you retrieved some more information?"
"The Fire Nation he comes from has been on a war of conquest for at least a century, their current leader is a man known as the Fire Lord, Ozai," Ibiki replied, and he sighed. "He was proud to brag his nation's progress in the war. Apparently, where he came from, they completely wiped out a faction known as the Air Nomads in the first years of the war-complete genocide."
Godaime shuddered at the thought of an entire race being wiped out. "And what else has he told you of this war?"
"A Southern Water Tribe has nearly been wiped out in this war, leaving only a small village of elderly, women, and children, since all the men were called off to fight," Ibiki continued, and he placed his hand on the wall. "Some of the stories of the war were sick, even by the standards set by the Great Shinobi War of nearly sixteen years ago, unspeakable atrocities…which he gladly bragged about. The Northern Water Tribe has survived a massive assault by the Fire Nation, led by an Admiral Zhao. The fleet they sent initially took most of the city, but was pushed back by the 'Waterbenders' and someone called the 'Avatar', who apparently is the last surviving Airbender, of the Air Nomads."
"What else?" Tsunade asked after a few seconds of pause, letting the information of this war the soldier Team 8 had captured sink in.
"The Fire Nation has also launched a new offensive on a fourth, and final nation, the Earth Kingdom. They have conquered nearly 59 percent of the landmass that the Earth Kingdom occupies, including this city, which from what I gather is an extremely strategic point, Omashu, during the last offensive. Apparently, they are aiming to claim the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se by the end of the month," Ibiki finished, and he sighed. "Even though he didn't tell me, these Fire Nation soldiers appearances just wreaks of Orochimaru's doing."
"Agreed," Tsunade said grimly with a nod. "Ibiki, get as much as you can out of him. We have to get prepared to defend the village, since apparently these Fire Nation soldiers are preparing an invasion force to destroy Konoha."
Ibiki nodded, and began walking back down the hall. "Hokage-sama, we have to be prepared for anything…"
"You think I don't know that, I am Hokage after all," Tsunade said with a smirk, but a bead of sweat dropped down her face. "I'll send word to all our allies, the battle lines will be drawn before they are needed."
Ibiki nodded, and walked back into the interrogation chamber, cracking his knuckles as he planned his next method. Tsunade walked away, attempting in her mind to contemplate the information Ibiki just told her. A century of war seems unbelievable, and there would be millions dead by the end of the war…
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Earth Kingdom Desert, Team Avatar's Sand-skiff
The skiff sped over the sands of the desert at a very fast pace due to Aang's Airbending. Every few seconds he pulled the air into his hands and tossed a gust of wind into the sail to propel it on at a very high speed. They were going in the direction that the compass was pointing to, and it was becoming clear that they weren't heading north.
"The needle on this compass doesn't seem to be pointing north according to my charts," Katara told everyone as she pulled up a star chart to look at it.
"Take it easy little lady, I'm sure the sand folks who built this baby know how to get around here," Sokka said lazily as he dangled his legs off the back of the small bridge, holding onto Momo's tail firmly.
"Then where are we going?" Sakura asked, her jade eyes, looking over the dunes.
Naruto squinted as he looked around. "I think that compass is busted. Kakashi-sensei, don't you know how to make a working one?"
"Yes, but that would waste water," Kakashi told his student with a grin under his mask. "If we weren't in a desert, and had ample water, sure, I would make a compass, but since we are in a desert, we can't waste what little water we have."
As they continued to glide over the sands, Katara saw a large object looming in the distance. "That's what the compass is pointing to, that giant rock! It must be the magnetic center of the desert."
"A rock? Yes! Let's go!" Toph cheered as she pumped her fist.
"Maybe we'll be able to find some water there!" Katara added, and Yamato looked at the rock.
"And some shelter that I won't have to use my chakra to make," Yamato said with a grin.
"Maybe we can find some Sandbenders…" Aang said darkly, pushing more air into the sail.
"Aang-nii-san, don't do anything stupid, alright?" Naruto told Aang sharply, and the Avatar huffed at that.
Hinata couldn't help but giggle at that, and she blushed at Naruto's attitude. "I-I think we'll be fine, Naruto-kun…"
A few minutes later, they stopped at the massive rock, which was more like a mountain sticking out of the sea of sand. It dwarfed the sand glider; it would take near dawn to climb up the rock to reach the top.
Naruto, Sokka, Aang, Kakashi, Yamato, Sakura, and Hinata were the first to reach the top, and they stood at the edge of the rock watching the sun rise. Katara pulled herself up and Toph followed, and the Waterbending Master looked at the sun rise. It was a beautiful sight.
"Ah…finally!" Toph sighed in contented as she slammed into the rock, and proceeded to make a rock angel in the outcrop. "Solid ground…"
"We might as well check these caves. There may be drinkable water in the depths of this rock," Kakashi said as they all walked to the entrance of one of the caves.
As they walked in, Sokka breathed out. "I think my head is starting to clear out the cactus juice…and look!" He then wiped what looked like honey off the wall, and put it to his mouth, and immediately spat it out. "Tastes like rotten penguin meat! Oh…I feel woozy…"
"You've been hallucinating on cactus juice all day and then you just lick something you find stuck to a wall in a cave?" Katara asked her brother in angry disbelief.
"And I thought Naruto was dense, but this takes the cake!" Sakura added, walking over.
"Are you really that stupid Sokka, did the stuff you drink suck out your brain?" Naruto yelled with annoyance in his voice.
'Sokka-kun…' Hinata winced. '…sometimes you act more…dense…than Naruto-kun…'
"I have a natural curiosity," Sokka told them, looking up from his slouched.
Toph then touched the wall, her body picking up the vibrations. "I don't think this is an normal cave…this was carved, by something."
"Yeah…look at the shape…" Aang said as he looked around the cave.
"Hinata-san, please use your Byakugan to try to see if anything is still in here," Kakashi advised as the Hyuuga nodded, and the veins began bulging around her eyes.
Toph began picking up vibrations, and Hinata's eyes widened. "There's a swarm of those buzzard wasps in here!" Hinata exclaimed in fear.
"They're coming for us!" Toph added as they all began running out of the cave.
As they ran out, Kakashi took out several shuriken as the buzzard wasps pursed them. Several buzzard wasps flew out of the caves and surrounded them. Toph nearly fell while she was running, and Momo flew above the vulture-like insects. Hinata, Sakura, Naruto, and Yamato drew kunai, and prepared themselves to fight off the insects.
Kakashi tossed his handful of kunai at two insects, cutting them down and killing them. Aang used his staff to pull up wind and toss it at a charging insect. Yamato tossed a explosive tag onto one of the buzzard wasps, and one massive explosion engulfed three of the buzzard wasps at once.
One buzzard wasp swooped down to attack Katara, only to be caught off by her water whip. Another tried to get her from behind, only to be met by Sakura's fist, sending the bird-like insect careening back into the hive, and nearly half of the holed out rock top collapsed. The Waterbending Master looked back and saw the aftermath of the pink-haired medical kunoichi's strength, and she flashed a smile.
"I got your back!" Sakura told her friend, and Katara nodded.
Several of the buzzard wasps began to swarm at Hinata, who had put her kunai away after dispatching several of the wasps by herself. She assumed the stance of her family, Jyuuken, and activated her Byakugan. As the buzzing oversized insects charged, she through out her hands and slapped each wasp away. All the wasps kept diving at her, and she just shifted her footing and prevented any of them from reaching her. She span as several nearly broke her defense, and she yelled "Kaiten (Rotation)!", blowing them away and carving a small crater out of ground.
"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled as he created several clones to attack the wasps, beating them down or cutting their wings off with kunai. The jinchuuriki then took out a scroll from his pack, did a few seals, and in a puff of smoke he summoned two katana swords. "Sokka, catch!"
Sokka, who had been using his short machete to try to cut down the wasps turned and grabbed the katana. "Huh, why do I need this?" He then looked at the sword. "And where did you get this?"
"Never mind that now, use it for reach!" Naruto yelled as he leapt into the fray with his summoned sword, cutting down several wasps with one slash. "That dinky little thing you are using now won't give you the speed or cutting strength to get through these things skins!"
"Hey! My machete is not 'dinky'!" Sokka yelled as Toph sensed one of the wasps landing to try to sneak up on her.
The blind Earthbending Master's feet turned and she raised her hands, making a pillar of rock shoot out of the ground, sending the wasp into the air. She heard one buzzing around Sokka, and she lifted a rock and tossed it, missing the wasp by several meters and made it almost crash into Sokka.
"What are you doing? That rock almost crushed me!" Sokka yelled as he raised his hands into the air.
"Sorry, but I can't tell where they are in the air!" Toph retorted as she looked around, and the same wasp buzzed away.
"I got this one!" Sokka said as he charged after the wasp, and he brought the katana Naruto gave him into a vertical slash, and then he did plenty of other slashes, hitting only air.
"There's nothing there!" Katara told her brother as she used her water whip to slam into Sakura's fist, which sent it flying, breaking up from the kunoichi's explosive strength.
"I guess my head isn't as clear as I thought," Sokka told everyone as he held the katana up vertically.
"We have to get out of here," Kakashi said as he used his kunai to decapitate one of the wasps. "We'll be running out of energy and weapons if this continues."
Suddenly, a buzzard wasp swooped down and grabbed Momo, and began to fly off to the horizon. "Momo-chan!" Hinata yelled as she dispatched another wasp with her Jyuuken style.
"I'm not losing anyone else out here," Aang said with determination, and he flicked his staff to open the canvas wings, and flew off after the wasp.
"Come on, we're getting out of here," Katara told the rest of them, and everyone nodded.
"Line formation, Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, you take up the front while Yamato and I will take the back. Katara, keep the middle of the line safe," Kakashi ordered as everyone nodded.
A few seconds, they were all climbing the path of the massive rock. Kakashi slashed at one of the wasps that was pursuing from the rear, and hit another with a kick. Sakura used her strength to slam away a wasp with her fist. A wooden vine shot out of the rocks and hit two wasps like a spear, impaling them and then tossing them down to the earth. Hinata used the first two strikes of the Hakke Rokoujuuyon Shou to kill two more wasps, and she continued to slide across the rocky path carefully. Naruto created four more bushins, which tackled the buzzard wasps that were coming at their front, and when one got into his range, he slammed a Rasengan right into its face.
"Toph, shoot a rock right there!" Katara ordered as a wasp approached the center of the line formation.
The Blind Earthbending Master stomped, lifting a heavy set of weights out of the ground, and she pushed them at the incoming wasp. The buzzard wasp's carapace was crushed by the attack, and Katara's water whip hit another one that was flying at Sokka.
"Yeah, you got it!" Sokka cheered as he pumped his fist. "She got it, right?"
"Yes," Katara said as they continued to move with the group. 'Wow, these guys aren't even tired…' she thought as the shinobi continued to plow through the swarm that was attacking them.
Aang began to gain on the retreating buzzard wasp that had taken Momo, and when he was about ten meters behind the wasp, he descended beneath the large insect. He flew underneath it, flipped, and then yelled, shooting a blast of wind at the wasp. The wasp relinquished its hold on the flying lemur, and Momo fell. The Avatar watched his pet descend, and then the flying lemur flew up unharmed and okay. Aang then focused on the fleeing buzzard wasp, and a look of rage formed on his face.
He glided down and as he prepared to land, kicking up a lot of sand and dust, he brought an overhand slash with his staff down, unleashing a wave of wind that cut the wasp in half. The dead creature fell down to the earth, kicking up dust, and Aang continued to glare at its lifeless form. He suddenly began to walk away, and Momo chattered and began to go after his master.
They were near the bottom of the rock, and everyone but Naruto was getting exhausted from the fight down the massive rock. Katara's chakra was running low, and she was beginning to rely on Toph's skills to fight for her. She kept telling where the buzzard wasps were converging, and more rocks were sent flying at the wasps. As the sheer numbers of wasps began to converge on the team, massive pillars of sand shot out of the desert, engulfing their numbers and burying them under tons of sand. The remaining wasps cut their losses and flew back up to their hive to begin repairing it.
"Wow, that was cool," Naruto commented as the sand fell down to settle again. "It was like some of Gaara's moves."
The group covered their eyes as the dust began to settle, and when they opened them again, they saw a tribe of Sandbenders standing there. Three sand gliders were converged around the rock near the one Team Avatar found. The Sandbenders had covered their bodies in robes, and if Toph could see, she'd recognize one of them as one of the thieves that stole Appa.
Aang landed on the sand in front of his friends, and he looked at the Sandbenders with pure hatred and anger in his eyes. One of the Sandbenders unveiled his face, showing an older man in his forties with a brown beard and spiky hair.
"What are you doing in our lands with a Sandbender sailer?" he asked them, looking at the glider they found. "From the looks of it, you stole it from the Honey Tribe."
The young man standing beside him looked down to the ground for some reason, and Kakashi noted that. He looked at Yamato, who also noticed the look on his face.
"We found the sailer abandoned in the desert, we're traveling with the Avatar," Katara replied to his questions, motioning back to Aang. "Our bison was stolen and we have to get to Ba Sing Se."
The bearded man, possibly the chief of the tribe's jaw lowered slightly as he looked at Aang. The young man standing next to him, however, didn't notice the Avatar being mentioned.
"You accuse our people of theft while you ride on in a stolen sand sailer?" He accused, and the chief glanced at him. Toph carefully listened to his voice, her blind eyes narrowing.
"Quiet Ghashuin! No one accused our people of anything!" The chief told his son harshly. "If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality!"
"Yeah! We didn't steal anything, got it!" Naruto yelled as Ghashuin glanced at the blond jinchuuriki.
'We didn't even accuse him, and he starts getting all defensive. He took Appa,' Kakashi thought, his visible eye narrowing.
"Sorry father, travelers," Ghashuin said, and Toph's eyes widened.
"I recognize the son's voice…" Toph gasped, telling everyone. "He's the one who stole Appa…"
"Thank you for the confirmation, Toph," Kakashi said as he stepped forward. "You tipped your hand by getting all defensive, when you weren't even accused, kid."
Katara looked at both of them. "Are you sure?"
"I never forget a voice," Toph confirmed, and the air around Aang began swirling.
"You stole Appa!" Aang accused as he advanced, his entire body starting to conform to his rage, and he pointed his staff menacingly at the young Sandbender. "Where is he? What did you do to him?"
"You bastards," Naruto said, jumping down from the rock. "Not all of you, just the wise guy who stupidly got defensive!"
Hinata and Sakura leaped down. "Please, tell us where you took him," Hinata pleaded.
"They're lying father!" Ghashuin yelled, looking back and forth between Team Avatar and his tribe. "They're the thieves!"
Aang advanced, and he slammed his staff down, sending a wave of wind that destroyed a nearby sand sailer, and he glared at the young Sandbender. "Where is my bison?"
"Aang, you don't have to beat them up to get the information," Naruto said, looking at the young boy's damage to the sailer. "Just calm down, nii-san, we'll sort this all out since we have the culprit."
Aang ignored what the jinchuuriki told him. "You tell me where he is now!"
He sent another wave of wind that destroyed another sand sailer, and the chief looked at his son in disbelief.
"What did you do?"
"It wasn't me!" Ghashuin replied weakly, and Toph pointed at him.
"You said 'Put a muzzle on him'!" Toph added, remembering the entire capture in her mind now.
"You. Muzzled. Appa?" Aang asked in blind fury, and his eyes and tattoos began to glow as his rage continued growing. He flipped and threw another wave of air at the sand sailers, destroying another glider.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know it belonged to the Avatar!" Ghashuin apologized, but it was no use.
"Tell me where Appa is!" Aang commanded as his entire body was engulfed in the Avatar State aura.
"I-I traded him, to some merchant, he's probably in Ba Sing Se by now!" Ghashuin replied in earnest, and it only made Aang's eyes narrow.
"Aang, get a hold of yourself!" Naruto yelled as he ran over. Suddenly, he was thrown back by a blast of energy, and dust began to be picked up. 'H-He's like how I was, when I couldn't control the Kyuubi…'
"T-They were going to sell him there," Ghashuin continued, and he raised his hands defensively as all the Sandbenders flinched. "Please, we'll escort you out of the desert! We'll help you anyway we can!"
The dust began to pick up and Sokka recognized what was happening. "Just get out of here!" Sokka yelled as he pulled Toph away, who had no idea what Aang was doing.
"Shodai's jutsu won't work on him; we have to get out of here!" Yamato told Kakashi, and he and the other Jounin leaped down the rock.
"Aang, stop this! You're really going to hurt someone!" Sakura pleaded, and her eyes widened in horror as the young Avatar ignored her. 'T-This is like…when Naruto went into the Four-Tailed state…and when Sasuke-kun used the Cursed Seal for the first time…!'
Hinata shivered at the power she saw coming out of Aang. "Aang-kun, please! Don't lose your head, please!"
'He's not going to listen,' Naruto thought as he picked himself up. Aang's body was covered by the swirling wind chakra, and the jinchuuriki squeezed his fist. 'If I don't do something, he really is going to wipe out everyone here! I…I haven't seen that look in anyone's eyes since I first saw Gaara kill those two Grass Ninja!'
The jinchuuriki closed his eyes. 'Alright, stupid fox! I need a bit of your energy, so are you happy now?'
Naruto's body was engulfed in the Kyuubi Chakra, and he opened his eyes, showing that they were still blue and he was completely in control of it. He squeezed his fist, and looked up as everyone was running. The entire landscape began shaking violently, and Katara and himself were the only ones that were staying.
"Aang, if you don't stop, I'll beat you down!" Naruto told the young Avatar, and his eyes widened as Katara just walked up to the raging Aang, grabbing his arm.
Aang looked down, his eyes still full of rage, but Katara was still able to get through his wind barrier. She pulled him down, and in one swift movement, she wrapped her arms around her and hugged him. Naruto's eyes began to widen in disbelief as the winds began to slow down, and the dust began to stop swirling.
"What's…happening…?" Naruto asked as the Avatar began to calm down. "Katara-chan is getting through to him?"
"He holds Katara very dearly, Naruto, she's probably the only one who can talk some sense into him during this state," Yamato told the jinchuuriki as Naruto began to dispel the Kyuubi chakra he summoned.
Aang began to cry as his rage calmed, tears streaked down his face as Katara tightened his grip around his shoulders. The swirling wind chakra dissipated and the dust settled. As loudly as his rage in the Avatar State began, the young Avatar began channeling the anger out of him, and all that was left was a deep sadness.
To Be Continued…