"Any luck finding Avatar Kyoshi's other book?" asked Katara, as she, Aang, and Sokka all searched through the Avatar section of the spirit library.
"Yea but the first quarter of it looks to be all but ruined, still it could hold some more information," Sokka said as he dusted off an old black book, which looked to be about ready to fall apart.
"Well what's it say?" Aang asked as the group gathered around.
"The date says it starts a few months after the last book ended."
(Six months after last entry: Kyoshi Island)
(Kyoshi POV)
For three months the Earth Kingdom has been in a state of civil war, one being the Earth King and the other being a warmonger named Chin. I can see that neither one of these men have the Earth Kingdom's interest at heart. Yet I'm afraid that if I do enter the war, I will somehow make things worse. I don't want to attract attention to my small village but Naruto has said that as Avatar I need to bring peace and maintain it.
On a side note, Naruto seems to be having nightmares lately and, when I ask him about them, he says he just misses the temple. It's been hard for him since the elder Air-benders found out about our relationship and banished him. Naruto has since moved to Kyoshi island.
(Normal POV)
"You'll get a cold if you stay out here much longer," said Naruto, who had found Kyoshi sitting on the beach while staring up at the moon.
"Right now a cold is the least of my worries, but you could always keep me warm," Kyoshi flirted as Naruto wrapped a large blanket around the two of them, while she rested her head against his shoulder.
"Well you're right to worry about this civil war but don't let it consume your life. If trouble comes here then we'll deal with it then, together," Naruto said, his tone like that of a wise Air-bending master.
"Why did you decide to stay here instead of returning to your home? Now you're no longer welcome there," said Kyoshi, having never asked that question no matter how much she may have wanted the answer.
"I never did agree with their philosophy of not having any earthly attachments, to me that would be the same as saying not to live. I didn't want to give you up so they banished me, simple as that. Maybe, in time, they will change their minds and I can return but, until then, I shall remain here," said Naruto, his eyes gaining a distant look as he spoke.
"Naruto, what's been bothering you lately?" Kyoshi asked and when Naruto looked at her, she was giving him a look that he couldn't refuse.
"In truth, I haven't been sleeping well. My dreams are filled with the sight of war long since passed and creatures that are even stronger that the most powerful Avatar. I dream of monsters that can blot out the sun with just their very presence and men that can summon rocks from the very heavens. It scares me to think that those kinds of beings once existed and might still exist," explained the blond Air-bender, only for Kyoshi to wrestle out of the blanket and straddle his lap.
"Well I have a way to solve your sleeping problem," said Kyoshi, a grin forming that put Naruto on edge.
"Oh and what would that be?" Naruto asked, although he had a feeling that he knew where this was going.
"Let's just say you won't have time to sleep for the next few days, now come entertain your wife."
"Kyoshi, Naruto come quickly! Someone is attacking the village!" yelled Kyoshi's mother and, true enough, there was a large amount of smoke coming from the village.
With speed unrivaled, both benders got up and shot towards the village. Both Naruto and Kyoshi were using an Air-bending ability, Naruto named "Air Skates", to get to the village much faster than any other bending would allow. However, when they arrived they found that not one group was fighting in the village but two. Apparently, Chin's forces and the Earth King's forces had somehow dragged their skirmish all the way to the village. Now there were duking it out with almost no concern for the occupants of the village. Now that made both Kyoshi and Naruto more than ticked off and that wasn't a healthy thing for either armies.
"We have to get them out of the village," said Kyoshi.
"We might cause some damage to the village if we try and force them out," said Naruto as he reached inside his robes and pulled out two metal objects.
"Buildings can be rebuilt but lives can't," was Kyoshi's response before she dove into the fray before them.
While Kyoshi dealt with the forces from the ground, which she was doing magnificently, Naruto used his own Air-bending to spin rapidly and created an Air spout. Now, being held high in the sky by his Air-bending, Naruto unfolded the metal objects into two gold metal fans. With all his strength, Naruto swung the two gold fans and managed to create two decent sized tornados. Controlling the tornados with his Air-bending, Naruto carved both armies right down the middle while Kyoshi used her Earth-bending to make a wall before the two armies could continue fighting.
"Hurry up Kyoshi, this isn't as easy as it looks," Naruto said to himself as he tried to keep the tornados strong but not let them just run wild, it also didn't help that both armies were now trying to launch rocks at him.
"Naruto look out!" Kyoshi screamed as a rather large chunk of earth was launching up at the blond Air-bender.
Luckily, Naruto was able to divert the bolder but Kyoshi had lost concentration of her surroundings by warning Naruto. This simple distraction allowed one of Chin's Earth-benders to land a powerful hit on Kyoshi. Naruto saw this and was hit by a sudden surge of rage; this wage was revealed by his eyes turning completely black, along with his arrow tattoos. Holding out his hands, Naruto began to send high-pressure shockwaves at both armies. Seeing only red, Naruto dove down into the two armies and began to tear through them in a very non Air-bender way. The old Naruto was gone and had been replaced by the embodiment of vengeance.
"DIE!" Naruto roared as he slammed his palm into an Earth-benders chest before releasing another shockwave of wind, the result was a fist sized hole being blown through his chest.
Spinning around rapidly, Naruto began to unleash even more high-pressure shockwaves that killed those closest to him and propelled others back several feet. After ten minutes of slaughter, both armies signaled a retreat and Naruto began to calm down. Once completely calm, Naruto walked over to a passed out Kyoshi and gently picked her up. To think that the first time he took a life he ended up taking several, maybe that's why the Air Nation was so keen on preaching that all life was sacred. They knew how lethal Air-bending could be and didn't want others using it to cause harm.
"I'm so sorry."
(With Naruto: present time)
Naruto had woken up about five minutes ago and was greeted by a headache the size of the Fire Nation. Although he now possessed some the answers, he had been looking for and even more knowledge than he cared to know. For instance, Naruto now knew that, under high amounts of emotional stress, he entered a state similar to that of the Avatar. In addition, the reason his elements in that state were more dangerous was because an ancient spirit once tried to fuse with him and ended up leaving behind some of its dark energy. However, he didn't know how he was reborn, unlike the Avatar who was reincarnated, but he was always meant to influence the Avatar in some way.
"I now have a new hatred of my past lives, why couldn't my life have just stayed simple?" Naruto asked himself, as he stood up and took in his surroundings.
'Oh I could show myself an ancient battle of epic proportion but I'm not able to know about my past lives. My original self is such an ass,' Naruto thought to himself while rubbing his head, hoping his headache would fade soon.
"Now how do I do that little trick?" Naruto asked himself, before placing his hand on a stone railing and focusing as hard as he could.
"Hey Naruto, what are you up to?!" asked Sokka as he and Aang rounded a corner, slightly surprising the Earth-bender.
"Trying to find where you three went, I think we should leave before that spirit wakes up from that little nap I gave him," said Naruto, a smile back on his face and humor in his voice.
"You sure, you did hit that spirit pretty hard so maybe he'll be out for a while longer," said Aang only for a monstrous screech to echo through the entire library.
"As you were saying?" asked Naruto before all three males took off running to where the girls were and then to where the hole in the ceiling was.
"So much for getting a map if the Fire Nation!"
(Five minutes later)
"YOU HUMANS HAVE CORRUPTED MY LIBRARY FOR THE LAST TIME!" the angry library spirit yelled as it chased after the gang, hell bent on eating them.
"I told you I was sorry!" Naruto yelled back while trying to stop in enraged spirit by making multiple earth walls.
"I don't think he cares at this point!" yelled Katara.
"Well maybe he wouldn't be so mad if someone hadn't stolen almost the entire section on FOUR past Avatars!" Naruto yelled while glaring over at Sokka, who was currently running with ten books in both his bag and hands.
"Just shut up and run!" yelled Sokka.
"I WON'T LET YOU ESCAPE!" the spirit roared as it broke its way through the three earth walls and continued to chase the gang.
"Toph, lets collapse the ground," said Naruto before both Earth-benders suddenly stopped and slammed their right foot onto the ground.
The result was the ground collapsing under the spirit and causing it to fall to the level below. Seeing an opportunity to get away faster both Earth-benders made a platform beneath their group and used it as a transport to get to the exit faster. Apparently the professor, you know the one that convinced everyone to go to the ancient library, was already there waiting for them with a confused look on his face.
"What was that noise?" he asked.
"Run now, talk later!" the group yelled at him before stopping just below the hole.
"Why are we leaving?" the professor asked, still greatly confused.
His answer came in the response of the angry spirit suddenly blasting its way up through the ground and letting out an angry screech. Now wasting any more time the, now complete, gang clumped up the rope before the Earth-benders sealed the ceiling shut behind them. It was also at that time the entire library seemed to just vanish into the sand, as if it hadn't of been there in the first place.
"So, I'm never going to another library again," said Naruto.
"Hey guys, where's Appa?" asked Aang, not seeing his oldest friend anywhere.
As if knowing he was being talked about, Appa emerged from one of the sand dunes with a small grunt. Apparently, it had gotten too hot for the bison and so he had barried himself in sand to cool off.
"Can we leave now?" asked Toph.
(One week later)
After finding their way out of the desert, which would have taken several days without Appa, the group managed to drop the professor off in an Earth Kingdom town. Naruto then proceeded to tell the rest of the group just what had happened to him in the library. He told them about his original self and the fight he had witnessed, although he hadn't been able to see the end. In return, they shared the books, which Sokka had stolen from the library, and so Naruto was able to learn about his past, with Avatar Kyoshi. Naruto hadn't gotten around to reading about the other Avatars, if just to see if he was also a part of their lives in some way. Now they all decided to take a break by a riven so they could train and relax.
"Water-bending bomb!" Katara yelled before jumping off a cliff and into the river, which caused water to erupt several yards into the air.
"Yea, couple hundred year old books from the spirit library, just splash a little water on them," said Naruto with his right eye twitching.
Katara climbed out of the water, while wringing the water out of her hair, before Water-bending the water out of the book and saying, "Sorry about that."
"Sokka, what's taking so long with catching our fish?" asked Naruto, glancing over at the Water Tribe boy who had been trying to grab the same fish for the last five minutes.
"Oh you think it's so easy, then why don't you do it?" asked Sokka, to which Naruto stomped the ground and a moment later, the fist went sailing out of the river and into Naruto's hand.
"I hate you sometimes," said Sokka, with a depressed look.
"Hello there fellow refugees!" a voice called from up the river.
There stood a man in his thirties wearing traditional Earth Kingdom garb, a traveling backpack, and two women behind him. The one woman on the right looked to be his wife, or pregnant sister, while the one on the left was most likely his daughter or much younger sister. All in all, a traditional Earth Kingdom family.
"So, would you three like to join us for lunch, Sokka was just catching some fish," said Naruto, to which Sokka groaned at the jab to his pride.
"Oh, that would be lovely," the pregnant woman, said, a very mother like aura around her.
"Katara, would you help Sokka catch some more fish for us while me and Toph make some chairs to sit on?" asked Naruto.
"What should I do?" asked Aang.
"Gather some dry wood so we can cook the fish, oh and grab the spark rocks from Appa's saddle," said Naruto before the group went to work setting up a small camp sight.
After getting everything set up, the group all sat around the small fire pit and waiting for the meal to cook. Different conversations were brought up, such as where the two different groups were going, what their journeys have been like, and the teenage girl had asked if she could pet Appa.
"Aang, maybe we should give them a ride to this refugee port they were talking about. It isn't that far out of our way and it wouldn't be safe for the woman to give birth out here in the wild," Naruto whispered to the Air-bender.
"I don't know, Appa's been really tired lately and I'm not sure he would be able to carry all of us, but we could give it a try," Aang responded.
"Foods done," Katara said and, sure enough, the fish were cooked and ready to eat.
(Two hours later)
Sure enough, the family accepted the ride but when they reached the refugee area, they were all disgusted with the conditions the people were forced to live in. Entire families were cramped together, forced to eat almost rotten food and most of the guards just watched these people with blank looks on their faces. Needless to say, Naruto was wondering who was worse the Fire Nation, for destroying their lives, or the Earth Kingdom for not helping its people.
"I can't believe how many people's lives have been uprooted by the Fire Nation," Katara Commented while looking around at all the people.
"We're all looking for a better life, safe behind the walls of Ba Sing Se," the father said, although he wasn't impressed by the conditions they would be forced to live in.
"Guys why is there a woman watching us?" asked Naruto, pointing to a female guard, while he continued to dive into the autobiography of Avatar Kyoshi.
"Tickets and passports please," the female guard said with a very harsh tone.
"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," said Naruto as he lowered the book and finally got a good look at the guard.
'Hm, she kind of looks like Kyoshi,' Naruto thought, not really paying attention to the guards sudden surprised look.
"Lord Naruto?!"
Yes I've finally beaten my previous record for words in a chapter! Although I feel like it's kind of rushed but I just wanted to get them out of the library. In addition, they never discovered the Solar Eclipse so they're not in a rush and Appa is still around. So review, give ideas, and PM me if you have any questions.