Bolt out of the Blue
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Viacom and Naruto belongs to Kishmoto. I only own my computer and maybe parts of my plot.
MP:Happy Friday the 13th! Today, a TV show I've been watching since I was in elementary school goes off the air. Good bye, Smallville. Thanks for the entertainment.
So after the rambling I have one other thing to say: Thanks for reviewing
Sole response:
Paper Planes: You've found my biggest weakness: I just have no idea on how to write Sasuke. I have him speak more in Book 2 but this was my first part and I wasn't and still am not comfortable writing him. Plus I'm more than a little miffed that Bakamoto keeps over powering him in the manga. Thanks for reviewing.
Chapter 7: The Waterbending Master
Naruto and Sasuke were sitting on opposite sides of the saddle from each other, Katara in the front of the saddle and Sokka in the back.
"Not that I'm one to complain-," he began.
"Are you kidding me?" Naruto groaned.
"You're the one who can out complain Naruto any day." Sasuke snapped.
"Hey!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke.
"As I was saying, can't Appa fly any higher?" Sokka said as he finished his complaint.
"I have an idea, why don't we all climb on your back and fly to the North Pole!" Aang said crankily.
"I'd love to. Climb aboard everybody, Sokka's ready for takeoff." The older boy snarked.
"Look we're all just a little tired and cranky because we've been flying for two days straight," Katara said.
"A little?" Naruto said as Sokka said,
"And for what? We can't even find the Northern Water Tribe. There's nothing up here." Sokka said.
"Sokka actually has a point." Sasuke said grudgingly.
This was all just before an iceberg suddenly appeared before them making Aang steer Appa above it. Then another ice flow formed, this time freezing one of Appa's feet unbalancing the sky bison, sending it into a spin before he landed in the water, Katara and Sokka clinging onto the saddle for dear life, Sasuke and Naruto had both used chakara to stick to the saddle (after avoiding firenation fireballs the one time the pair figured out this trick really fast). Ice formed around the now level bison. After which many boats with a blue and white crescent symbol glided out. Katara said,
"They're waterbenders, we've found the Water Tribe!"
Zhaou's Council of War,
"He's heading North. The Northern Water Tribe. The Avatar needs to master waterbending. He's probably looking for a teacher," Zhaou said.
"Perfect. Why don't we go and stop him!" another general said.
"Patience General Li, this isn't some Earth Kingdom Village we can just march into." Zhaou said, after which he admitted there was a reason the Northern Water Tribe had survived 100 years of war, that the whole landscape was an advantage for the powerful benders of the Water Tribe that this would have to be a massive invasion force.
Northern Water Tribe,
Naruto was stunned speechless by the way the Northern Water Tribe looked. It was even more magnificent than the Land of Snow. Sasuke was also impressed by the fortress-like city. Even more impressive to the two ninja was the multitude of waterbenders manipulating the ice and water of the city effortlessly, their version of a canal working flawlessly to bring the group on the bison up to the same level as the canals that ran through the city. As they floated down the canal Sokka fell in love at first sight with a pretty Water Tribe girl with white hair. So when Katara remarked.
"It's so beautiful!" in reference to the city Sokka said,
"She sure is." He thought of the white haired girl.
"He thinks blonde hair is weird yet doesn't look twice at white?" Naruto snorted.
"Shut up, idiot." Sasuke said.
"Whatever, bastard." Naruto responded.
Zuko's Ship,
As the crew had music night and a bit too much to drink, Zuko sulked in his room. As Iroh tonelessly sang "Four Seasons, Four Loves," a boarding party led by Zhaou had arrived. The person playing the luiqin broke a string after they looked back to see who had just boarded their small vessel.
Northern Water Tribe,
Sasuke and Naruto were sitting on the end of the head table with a space between them and Sokka. Aang, naturally, had the seat of honor on the right of Chief Arnuk with Katara to his right and then Sokka to hers. Sasuke, Naruto, and Aang stuck out like sore thumbs amidst the many blue coated forms. Naruto and Aang even more so due to their odd hair or lack thereof. Naruto missed the first part of Chief Arnuk's speech but then saw the white haired girl from earlier walk in, and it turned out she was a princess.
Naruto didn't pay much attention to anything after he began eating, but he happened to look around and saw a pair of odd pale white/lavender eyes that lacked pupils, then he saw the rest of the person that went with the eyes, pale skin, short blue-black hair, delicate face, the rest of her covered up by the typical bulky Water Tribe parka and gloves, but Naruto recognized her. 'The nice dark weirdo!' he thought as he swallowed.
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled and pointed over towards where the girl sat. Sasuke saw her and barely remembered that she too had been pulled into that vortex.
"That's a Hyuuga. I think the one in our graduating class was named Hinata." Sasuke said.
"Oh so that's her name." Naruto said. 'At least I have some else to call aside from nice dark weirdo.' He thought.
'Your intelligence is staggering,' the Nine-Tails commented.
'Shut up, fur ball!' Naruto replied.
"You know her?" asked Chief Arnuk surprised by the two ninjas conversation.
"Yes, she is from the same village Sasuke and me are from." Naruto said loudly. The Uchiha nodded in ascent with the blonde's loud proclamation.
Hinata had begun to make her way over to them after Naruto had yelled 'Sasuke.'
"H-hello N-Naruto." Hinata stuttered as she finally approached them. "H-hello Sasuke."
"Another one?" Sokka asked when he saw the leaf forehead protector that Hinata wore around her neck, barely visible over the fur lining of her indigo parka.
"Guys, this is Hinata Hyuuga. She's from Konoha too." Naruto said as he smiled broadly. This caused Hinata to blush furiously. Katara knew that Naruto was the cause and that the girl needed help with her confidence, badly.
"Pleasure to meet you! Are you a ninja too?" Katara asked.
"Y-yes." Hinata said.
"Amazing!" Katara said.
"Ninja?" asked Chief Arnuk asked of the others of the Avatar's entourage.
"It's what they call Shadow Warriors where they're from." Sokka said. "Aw, is she going to join us too?"
"C-Could I?" Hinata said softly.
"Of course she can!" Aang said.
"Just what we need, another crazy ninja!" Sokka moaned.
The next day found Sokka trailing after Yue, Hinata going off to healer training, Katara and Aang off for training with the curmudgeon known as Master Pakku, which left Sasuke and Naruto to their own devices. Aang had left a note but both were unable to read the writing and were too proud to ask for help. So Naruto eventually asked someone where a good place would be to practice airbending and if it was ok for Sasuke to practice there too. Sasuke had picked up on the fact mentioning he was a firebender would be most unwise the moment they entered the city. This meant he would be practicing his forms and breathing without the fire. The Avenger accepted the set-back thinking of the strength he would gain.
After being denied training based on her gender, Katara reluctantly walked into Yagoda's igloo where she saw many young girls and Hinata sitting around a representation of a body. Katara sat down next to the shy heiress, who also sat near the door, and began to listen to Yagoda's lecture on healing. Hinata didn't need to activate her Byuakugan to see Katara didn't really want to be there and hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder for comfort.
Zuko's Ship,
Zhaou had come to conscript all of the crew members (including the cook) for his own purposes. He didn't want Zuko there in case he got in Zhaou's way. When looking around Zuko's room he noticed a pair of broad swords hanging on the wall which brought to mind the shadowy criminal, the Blue Spirit, and how the one who took the Avatar away from him had skillfully wielded the exact same weapons. Had he been looking at Zuko, he'd have seen fear in the banished prince's eyes.
"I didn't know you were skilled with broad swords, Prince Zuko." Zhaou remarked as he removed one from the wall.
"I'm not. They're antiques, decorative." Zuko said as he looked down and to the side. Zhaou's back was still to him, but her turned and said to Iroh.
"Have you ever heard of the Blue Spirit, General?"
"Yes, but I don't think he's real." Iroh replied.
"I know he's real. He's a criminal, but I have a feeling justice will catch up with him soon." Zhaou said as he handed Iroh one of the broad swords.
"My offer to join me still stands, General Iroh." Zhaou said as a final parting shot.
Yagoda's Iglo,
As the lesson let out and some of the others helped carry out the fake human body used as an aide for teaching Katara walked over to Yagoda and thanked her for the lesson, Hinata hovered by the door.
"So who's the lucky boy?" Yagoda asked as she leaned forwards and looked at Katara's necklace.
"What?" Katara asked.
"Your betrothal necklace. You're getting married, right?" Yagoda said.
"No, I'm not ready for that yet. My grandmother passed this down to my mother and my mother passed it down to me." Katara said as she looked at her necklace.
"I recognize this carving. I don't know why I didn't see it earlier. You're the spitting image of Kana!" Yagoda said.
"Wait, how do you know my Gran-Gran's name?" Katara asked as she backed away.
"When I was about your age I was friends with Kana. She was born here, in the Northern Tribe." Yagoda explained.
"She never told me." Katara said softly.
"Your grandmother had an arranged marriage with a young waterbender. He carved that necklace for her." Katara looked down before she asked,
"If Gran-Gran was engaged, why did she leave?"
"I don't know; it's always been a mystery to me. She left without saying goodbye." Yagoda said sadly.
Zuko's Ship,
Iroh bid the crew good luck and tried to get Zuko off the ship to interrupt his sulking. But as he walked away the pirated closed in on the ship and rigged it to blow with blasting jelly. But one of the pirates made a handle squeak which alerted Zuko to another's presence on his ship. As he wandered the halls, in a ready stance, he made it to the helm when he saw the pirates' parrot-lizard fly by which alerted him too late that something was seriously wrong just before the ship blew.
"AHHHHH!"
Iroh heard the explosion and saw the smoke.
"ZUKO!" he said worried before he raced back to the ship only to see a burning wreck in its place.
"Zuko." He said sadly and softly.
Northern Water Tribe,
"So how was warrior training going?" Aang asked Sokka, who kicked his pack angrily in response.
"That bad?" Aang said.
"No, it's Princess Yue, one minute she wants to go out with me the next she's telling me to get lost!" Sokka grumbled.
"Maybe she realized she was wasting her time." Sasuke muttered.
"Say that again Pretty Boy!" Sokka growled. Naruto was asleep, already, and Hinata had been moved with them and she was also sleeping.
"Whatever." Sasuke said before he too turned in.
"How's waterbending training going?" Sokka asked. Katara flopped down at the same time as Aang said,
"Master Poophead won't teach her because she's a girl.
"Why don't you just teach her Aang?" Sokka said.
"Why didn't I think of that! You can teach me at night whatever moves Master Pakku shows you during the day. That way you have someone to practice with and I get to learn waterbending that way everyone's happy!"
"I'm not happy." Sokka said.
"But you're never happy. Come on Aang." Katara said as they walked out the door.
"Keep it down, the rest of us are trying to sleep." Sasuke snapped before he rolled over.
"And they say I'm never happ-EE!" Sokka said only to find a kunai centimeters from a very, um, sensitive spot.
Long story short: They got busted by Pakku who dismissed Aang as his student on the sport. This found them, the next morning, before the Chief.
"What do you expect me to do, force Master Pakku to take Aang back as his student?" he asked as if it were easier to turn back the tide without waterbending than that.
"Yes please." Katara said.
"He might if you swallow your pride and apologize," Chief Arnuk said.
Pakku's manner made Katara reconsider apologizing and she instead challenged him to a fight, a bold unpredictable move worthy of Naruto.
"Katara you're not going to win this fight!" Sokka said as they walked down the stairs, Katara pulled off her parka and shoved it at her brother.
"I know! I don't care!" Katara said.
"Ignore him, kick his ass Katara!" Naruto yelled.
"Don't encourage her." Sasuke said. "She might end up like you or her brother." This earned twin 'HEY's of indignation from the offended pair. They stayed back from where Katara had said the challenge was and Pakku walked past her, ignoring her completely this caused her to form a water whip and nail the waterbending master on the back of the head. IT was now ON.
Throughout the fight Naruto and a few others were constantly cheering loudly for the girl. After she was flung into a pool of water and sent disks of ice at the master, one nearly sheering off his hair and she got out he admitted she was a good bender but he still wouldn't train her. It wasn't until he trapped her in multiple vertical ice spikes that it was over: Katara could no longer move and therefore could no longer fight. But as the elderly master walked away he spotted the betrothal necklace he'd unknowingly knocked from Katara's neck during their duel.
"This is my necklace." He said in surprise.
"No it's not, it's mine!" Katara yelled as she struggled against the ice that trapped her.
"I carved this sixty years ago for the love of my life. For Kana." He said as he bent the spikes back into water.
"My Gran-Gran was supposed to marry you?" Katara said looking very disheveled her hair a complete and total mess.
Zhaou's Flagship,
Iroh sat drinking tea with Zhaou who offered false condolences on Zuko's murder smirking whenever Iroh mentioned that the pirates had done. It was definitely a 'cat-that-ate-the-canary' smirk. The smug admiral had thought he'd gotten away with ordering the hit. But later, Iroh made his way through the ship and stopped to talk to what seemed to be a random firebender in full armor, including a faceplate in the helmet.
"Our plan is working perfectly, Zhaou doesn't suspect a thing." Iroh said. The soldier removed the plate to reveal a battered, but alive, Zuko.
"You don't have to be here." He said.
"No nephew of mine is going to stowaway on a ship without back-up." Iroh said as if it were a common thing.
"Thank you, Uncle." Zuko said before they heard footsteps.
"Someone's coming!" Iroh said, at this Zuko slid his faceplate back into position.
"Stay hidden until we get to the North Pole and the Avatar will be yours. Good Luck." Iroh said before they continued on their separate ways.
Northern Water Tribe,
"I carved this for your grandmother the day we got engaged. I thought this would be the start of a long happy life for us." Pakku said sadly. "I loved her." He admitted.
"But she didn't love you, did she? She didn't let your tribe's stupid traditions rule her life. Leaving here must have taken more strength then I can imagine." Katara said contemplatively. Yue began to cry and took off.
"Go to her." Aang said to Sokka.
"Yeah, go on lover boy-ouch!" Naruto said and Sasuke smacked him up alongside the head.
"You've been hanging around Sokka and Aang too much." Naruto muttered.
Sokka found out why Yue ran off crying and why she kept giving him Hot and Cold signals: She was engaged. Of course she revealed this after she planted one on the confused Southern boy.
The next morning Pakku was still as much of a grouch as ever but he let Katara, who was late, join in their lesson that morning along with a very self-conscious Hinata.
Zhaou's Ship,
"My fleet is ready, set a heading for the Northern Water Tribe!" he ordered his helmsman. His massive ship led the way for the massive invasion fleet behind him. War was coming.
MP: Constructive Criticism is welcome as a way to help improve what you see. Flames, on the other hand are noting but ways to vent displeasure without telling someone why what you've read displeases you so.
Note: This chapter was only partially proofed