Avatar of the Four Dragons

by Kyu No Ken

A tale of a man that disappeared centuries ago, leaving his mark as the creator of the disciplines. Only for him to re-appear once again in a time where the shinobi no longer exists in order to bring peace to the land once again . . . . .

11. Book II Chapter 8

Welcome to the first chapter of Book II. I want to thank everyone that has been reading this story since the beginning and to those that have been waiting patiently for the upcoming chapter of this story. It has been a rough beginning of the year for me but I'm still managing to go by. I know some of you may have thought I had abandoned this story, but it's not easy working and being college student. But thank you ya'll for being patient and as promised here is the chapter.

(A/N): explanation at the end of the chapter every time this is posted

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or Avatar: the Last Airbender

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Avatar Timeline:

Episode "The Avatar State" will be Narutofied

Episode "The Swamp" will come before the "Cave of two lovers" and "Return to Omashu" as Naruto first comes across it.

Episode "The Cave of Two Lovers" will be Narutofied halfway the episode

Episode "Return to Omashu" will be Narutofied and cannon at the end

And now . . . . . On with the show!

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Water

Earth

Fire

Air

Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony,

Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked,

Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them,

But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

One hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar,

An air-bender named Aang,

But unknown to us, the avatar of legend, a man named Naruto had reawakened.

And although Aang's air-bending skills are amazing and Naruto may be the crimson avatar, they both have a lot to learn before they're ready to save anyone.

But . . .

I believe Aang and Naruto can save the world.

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Previously on Avatar of the Four Dragons:

The blonde headed towards the door and opened it slightly, making sure no one was outside, he opened it completely and before he took his step, Inari said one more piece;

"Ten-ten would have wanted you to live your life and find happiness, Naruto, instead of pinning yourself to her memory."

/ . \

"Iroh is a traitor and your brother is a failure . . . . I have a task for you . . ." said the Fire Lord, causing the young girl's eyes to open, revealing cold amber eyes with red lips turning, her face maintaining a neutral look.

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Encounters from the Past;

Naruto's New Promise

Two whole months have gone by since the aftermath of the North Pole and the city itself had being going a quick pace towards recovery from all the total damage it had received during the battle. But while the city was repairing itself, out heroes were on a ship (A/N: the ship resembles a Viking ship) commanded by Master Pakku, whose destination was the South Pole. However, during these two whole months, Naruto wasted no time in fulfilling his promise to Sokka in training him to become a better warrior, going to extreme measures to do so and this voyage was no excuse for the Southern warrior to slack off as he was training now on the sails long pole doing chin ups while Naruto just stood there, making sure his student doesn't fall;

"Come on Sokka, you just got 2 more to go," commented the blonde lazily as he dug into his ear

"Damn . . . Sadist . . ." grunted Sokka as he pulled himself up and slowly let his body hang, sweat pouring down his face, panting heavily before he struggled to do the last chin up, but didn't had the strength to do so as he let his body hang loosely in the air

"What's the matter boy? Can't handle my training?" asked Naruto mockingly as he squatted on top of Sokka

Having a tick mark growing on the side of his head, he looked up with fire in his eyes;

"You call this training! Ever since you began to train me you had me doing inhumane amounts of working exercises that could have crippled me!" shouted Sokka

Raising an eyebrow in boredom, he stared at his apprentice;

"Is doing chin ups with light weights attached to your ankles too much for you?" he asked, only to make Sokka get more infatuated with him even more;

"You bastard! You call attaching a hundred and fifty pounds ice blocks to my feet while doing three hundred chin ups light!" yelled Sokka as he pulled himself up to scream at his sensei's face as he spat on him with his yelling. Naruto grew a tick mark himself as he got fed up with Sokka's constant whining and got on his student's face as well;

"Are you man or a whinny little bitch!"

"You questioning my manhood you asshole!"

"Maybe I wouldn't question it if you didn't whine and complain so damn much!"

Down below, Master Pakku, Aang, Katara and the whole crew looked at the scene with large sweat-drops developing in the back of their heads as the two were still engaged in the verbal assaults;

"Isn't Naruto suppose to be the more mature out of your lot?" asks Pakku as he turned to his former student

"My guess is that his patience has been tested ny my brother's stupidity and has ran out," responded Katara weakly as she face her former master, giving a weak laugh while Aang just shook his head with his eyes closed. Then suddenly, they heard a scream and turned in time to watch Sokka crashed onto the floor, creating a nice dent on the floor due to the weights attached to his ankles. The Katara and Aang approached the young warrior only to find him twitching in pain;

"Ow . . . "

Naruto skillfully landed next to the group only to receive a smack on the back of his head as soon as he landed. While rubbing the back of his head, the blonde turned around to find the angry water-bending girl glaring at him;

"What did you do to him?" she asked him menacingly

"I didn't do nothing, the idiot let go of the sail pole to try and strangle me only for him to realize a little too late that he was hanging and came crashing down," explained the blonde, as he continued to rub his head pouting, "Damn, did you have to hit me hard?"

"Oh you'll live, you big baby," teased Katara with a small smirk on her face as she turned around and headed towards her brother to heal whatever injuries he had caused himself only to find him he had already gotten up to his feet with barely any scratches on him, surprising Katara greatly while Naruto examined the his student's physique;

"I'm still amazed by how far Sokka has progressed in just two months of non-stop training," thought the blonde as he watched Katara checking on her brother for any injuries while Aang dissolved the large ice cubes into water, "Not only that, in two months he has mastered two forms of the wing chun style, something that took me at least almost two years to master due how relaxing the style demands the body to be," he finished his thoughts with pride, only to be brought out of his thoughts by said apprentice;

"Don't go daydreaming on me, we still have to finish the routine," said Sokka as he stretched his sore arms as he walked towards an isolated part of the ship and stood still with his feet together. Then he separated his toes to the side then lightly lifted his ankles a bit and parted them outward, and then he sunk his body down as his knees automatically almost came close together with just a fist size length gap between the knees. His hands balled into fists as he put them at the side of his chest with his elbows pointing backwards with his shoulders dropped, relaxed as he melted into the position. His back flat as a board as he raised his head lightly up while rolling his hips forward, causing him to feel a mild stretch of his spine as it was put in a straight line instead of its usual S shape.

Aang and Katara were curious by this, for this is the first time they both had seen Sokka's actual training, instead of the usual training/workouts that Naruto had put him through. Said blonde, as if reading their minds, came up to them from behind and began explaining as to what Sokka was doing;

"What you're seeing is the fighting form of an old style that has been forgotten."

"What style is that?" asked Aang as he now looked at the blonde

"Wing chun," was the blonde's simply reply

"Wing chun?" questioned Katara, gaining a nod in response, "What's that?"

"Wing chun is a fighting style that utilizes both, striking and grappling, while specializing in close-range combat," explained Naruto, "the theory behind to what Sokka is doing for the first two weeks of training, was to gain a perfect Wing Chun stance, for when done correctly, you're like a piece of bamboo; firm but flexible, rooted but yielding. Allowing you to either deflect external forces or redirect them away.

Also, balance is related to the structure for a well-balanced body recovers more quickly from stalled attacks and the structure is maintained. Wing Chun is also somewhat of meditation for it trains the sensitivity and awareness of one's own body movement derived from muscular, tendon, and articular sources," explained the blonde further, "And as you can see from my stupid apprentice's position, Wing Chun favors a high, narrow stance with the elbows kept close to the body. Within the stance, arms are positioned across the vitals of the centerline. All attacks and counter-attacks are initiated from this firm, stable base. The style rarely compromises structure for more powerful attacks because this is believed to create defensive openings which may be exploited," explained the blonde further, causing the two teens to look back at Sokka in amazement of the style he is learning, but then Katara turned towards the blonde again;

"I understand that structure is a fundamental necessity, but why is it so demanding on this particular style?" asks the girl

"Because structure is viewed as important, not only for reasons of defense, but also for attack," responded Naruto, "When the practitioner is effectively "rooted", or aligned so as to be braced against the ground, the force of the hit is believed to be far more devastating. Additionally, the practice of "settling" one's opponent to brace them more effectively against the ground aids in delivering as much force as possible towards the body of his opponent."

"So from what you're saying is that instead of using external energy, which would be muscle power, Sokka would be using the ground as his source of energy, since he would be rooted to the ground, unmovable," summarized Aang with high curiosity

"Yes and no," responded Naruto, "it is true that him being rooted into the ground will be a source of energy, but also we use our center to draw upon that energy, the dantian or center of gravity, for the power generated from the ground torques its way to the waist, where it gets a major boost at the body's center point, giving the power required to deliver a powerful strike."

"So the energy is what causes the damage on impact, it penetrates the surface, damaging the insides of the opponent," said Katara as she grimaced at the thought of hurting someone from the inside out

Naruto just shook his head, "No, Katara, what the energy does is enhance the strike to make it a bit more powerful and to gain that; you have to be very subtle. That's why relaxation of the muscles is highly demanded, for wing chun is soft and fluent like water."

By now, Sokka had began to do the first firm of the style and Aang and Katara noticed that every strike or hand movement that the wolf-tailed water made, they were always placed in front or close towards the center of his body;

"Naruto, why does it look like he's trying to protect his center?" question Aang

"That's because he is, he's protecting his own center while creating an opening towards his opponent's own centerline while engaging," said Naruto as he saw Sokka about half way done through the first form

"Then why the beatings with the stick you been giving him at the end of almost every training session?" questions Aang as he crossed his arms with a frown, but the blonde just shrugged his shoulders

"Body training, I'm raising his pain tolerance while toughening his body," responded Naruto

"And the exercises like push ups, crunches, chin ups and such?"

"To build his cardio, he'll be able to last longer in battle. Since last time I sparred with him, he was beaten because he never had done any real training and since endurance . . . . pretty much sucked," summarized Naruto.

Aang just made an 'Oh' motion, and then he looked at Naruto once again;

"And what about the exercise where you have him surrounded by clones and dodging concrete bowling balls?"

"Develops his 6th sense or danger sense as well as build his dodging skills and quite frankly, he has gotten faster in these past two months with these exercises," said the blonde

"Exercises! What you have him going through sounds more like torture than training," exclaimed Aang hotly, but only got a glare in response from the blonde

"He's my trainee and I will help him however I can to achieve his goal," retorted Naruto, "And if you don't want to partake in my training regime, I suggest that you keep your mouth shut."

Aang kept his mouth hut after that and both had turned back to see Sokka finishing up the last steps of the first form and slowly stand up to his feet, sweat pouring down his face as his legs shook uncontrollably. Katara went towards her brother to help him stand and check if he was ok;

"Why do his legs shake that badly?" questions Aang worriedly

"The stance stretches the tendons and ligaments beyond their limit, also uses the muscles in the legs that haven't been put use and strengthens the knee and ankle joints, reducing the chances of joint problems at old age," said the blonde, causing Aang to widen his eyes slightly in surprise at the beneficial effects the art gives to the body with the years of practice.

However, all of them were interrupted by a mocking laughter. Turning around, they saw a group of three arrogant young warriors wearing the traditional wardrobe; the only difference was that they wore a vest instead of a jacket looking at them, mockingly as they sneered at Sokka;

"Can we help you gentleman?" questioned Naruto as he crossed his arms and boringly glared at them

"We heard your conversation about that fool's fighting style and I say that he's full of shit, I could beat him easily," said one of the teens with brown hair, causing Sokka and Aang look at them in anger and were about to retort, but Naruto simply raised his arm to the side, silencing them both before they began to voice out their own opinions;

"Well then, how about a friendly spar between you and my apprentice, to find out who's the better fighter out of the two," suggested Naruto, making the gaang to look at him crazy, causing the arrogant young warriors to get a little defensive;

"And why should one of us even bother to fight him," retorted another teen with black hair defensively, causing Naruto to chuckle

"Because you come over and insinuated that you were better than my student, so here's your chance to prove it," replied the blonde seriously as he glared at the three, causing them to hesitate accepting the challenge. Seeing this, the blonde decided to give one last push at their egos, "What say you? Are you either going to step up and back up your words or are you like the rest, all talk and no balls?"

At this, the last teen that was bald and seemed to be the leader of the group, stepped up, anger clearly showing in his face, "I'll fight him and show you he's the one that's weak!"

"Good," simply said the blonde as he turned towards Sokka and walked towards him;

"What are you doing? Arranging a fight against him!" growled Sokka as he fully stood to his feet, but Naruto simply stared at him passively, "I'm doing this for various reasons, but my most important one is to see how much you progressed in this past two months, or aren't you curious yourself?" said Naruto calmly, making the wolf-tailed warrior grow quiet

"I'm curious myself to see the progress of my training," admitted Sokka quietly as he stared at his hands. Naruto just grinned and placed his hand on the young warrior's shoulder, "Now's your chance to prove it to yourself Sokka."

"You think I can beat him?" asked a doubtful Sokka, but his only response was a smile from his master, "I know you can, but remember what I said to you back at the city, whether you win or lose is not important, what's important is whether you found your worth."

"Are you going to fight or you going to cower from the fight?" shouted the leader, making Naruto scowl before he turned back towards his pupil;

"Do me a favor and put him in his place," said Naruto with seriousness. Sokka just nodded his head as he walked towards his opponent. Katara then walked next to Naruto;

"You sure it's ok for him to fight?" asks Katara worriedly about her brother's wellbeing, but the blonde just looked at her with a gentle smile on his face;

"Believe in him Katara, just like I believed in you when you faced Master Pakku," replied Naruto before he turned his sights back towards the two combatants, with Katara and Aang watching the coming fight on the sidelines.

The bald teen and Sokka faced one another, with the bald teen setting the ground rules;

"Here are the rules, no interference from either side, no pok –"but was cut off rudely by Sokka,

"Cut the bullshit and fight," said Sokka as he went into his stance, resting his whole body weight on his right leg, with his left leg lazily placed in front of him loosely and back side flat as he stretched his neck and rolled his hips forward . His left arm extended forward with hand formed in a chopping motion and his elbow tucked in close to his center. His right hand placed in front of his chest in a prayer like motion, ready as he waited for his opponent to start the fight;

"Ready to lose aren't you," bragged the teen as he got into his stance with his left hand extended forward in a claw like motion with his right fist cocked back right beside his abdomen;

Both fighters didn't say a word and stared at one another, with the sounds of waves hitting the boat, giving the signal to begin the fight as the bald warrior quickly rushed in and jumped into the air doing a scissors kick which he missed as Sokka took a step back and tried to recuperate by kicking Sokka in the knee once he landed on his feet, but was also unsuccessful. The bald warrior sent a straight left punch, but was block when Sokka placed his forearm forward on mid-strike, then tried to attack with an elbow strike sent to the chest, but was deflected when the wolf-tailed warrior folded his arm in front of him to redirect the attack away from his frame as he slightly turned his whole body to the side. Suddenly, the bald teen tried chop Sokka from above, but his attack missed as Sokka side stepped to the side and parried another left straight punch with his right forearm and quickly Sokka went to the attack as he stepped in front of his opponent and sent his own chain of punches, but were blocked except for one that managed to pass through the defenses and landed in the abdomen. The bald teen felt the hit and quickly tried to get a hold of Sokka's arm with a tiger claw, but Sokka just as quickly managed to bring his limb back and continue his attack with his furry of chain punches, but were parried to the side as his opponent used his own forearms to swat them away and tried to sneak attack a tiger claw into Sokka's face, but Sokka successfully managed to block that strike as he once again folded his left arm in front of him to stop the strike firm on his forearm and countered attack by unfolding and stretching his arm out, causing the bald warrior to step back to keep his balance since he couldn't stop Sokka's unfolding limb, but quickly deflected the arm with an elbow strike and shot his arms out with double tiger claws, but unable to hit his target as Sokka leaned a back a bit to evade the attack. After Sokka gained back his balance, he stepped forward with a punch but was parried upward and retracted his fist back to send a right strike and was also parried. Figuring that Sokka had no defenses, he reached out to grab his neck but Sokka side-stepped to the left;

"Damn!" thought Sokka as he soon began to regret side-stepping, which it gave his opponent a chance to use a rise kick to his head, but Sokka barely managed to block the kick when he brought his forearms in front of him, causing him to slightly loose his balance, which his opponent noticed as he tried again to kick Sokka's feet, but narrowly missed as his leg landed between Sokka's feet as said warrior stepped to the side to get on his opponent's back and capitalized as he used his elbow and shoulder to attack, hitting his target hard in the back as it caused the bald warrior to grunt for air as he stumbled forward and watched Sokka going after him to capitalize, but tried to surprise him as he sent a high mule kick, but Sokka successfully managed to block the attack with his hand, causing him to make take a couple steps back to gain some distance between the two.

Aang and Katara just watched with amazement, both unaware of someone else that was watching the fight from afar while Naruto smiled with pride as the fight went on. Aang and Katara did not believe that this was the same Sokka that they have been journeying with. He was almost the complete opposite of the whining, no battle skills and hot headed Sokka that they were used to. This Sokka was collected, skillful, tactful, and quiet;

Both fighters circled one another as they resumed their stances, trying to find any openings in their defenses, but if one was to look closer, the look on the fighters told a different story, one held a passive and clam look while the other held a look of nervousness and doubt. Not wasting time any further, the bald warrior jumped in front of Sokka with a wild arc swing of his arm, but Sokka blocked it, along with the next arc swing, except this time, instead of parrying the attack, he held on tight onto the wrist of his opponent and waited for the next attack, which was a right straight punch, but Sokka, brought the arm of his opponent down to block his opponent's attack with his own arm as he trapped both arms with one hand, giving Sokka an opportunity to attack as the his adversary was wide open for an attack, but his grip wasn't strong enough to hold him as his opponent broke the grip and attacked Sokka again with a double tiger claw, but like the previous time, the attack was unsuccessful when Sokka folded both of his arms in front of him and block the attack with his forearms and sneakily sent a kick which was block when the bald warrior blocked the kick with his left forearm while he sent a right jab only to get parried down by Sokka's right and countered with a left straight punch, but his punch was blocked by his opponent's elbow and made his own counter as he tried to use his tiger claw again to get a hold onto Sokka's midsection. Sokka sensing the intention, he blocked/parried with his left forearm as he rotated his right arm to get a hold onto his opponent's wrist and sent a finger jab strike towards his opponent's neck, but the bald warrior successfully stepped aside, causing Sokka to miss and get an elbow strike into his midsection, causing him to stumble back and give his opponent enough room to deliver a spinning kick to the side of Sokka's face;

"Sokka!" shouted Katara and Aang looked ready to intervene, but was held back by Naruto as he placed a hand on the young Avatar's shoulder. Aang looked at Naruto, who held a faceless expression and shook his head at the young monk. Katara watched as Naruto stopped Aang as he remained calmed and continued to watch as he turned towards the fight. The girl, worriedly, turned her sights back to the fight as well and prayed her brother didn't get hurt.

"Had enough runt?"taunted the arrogant warrior as he stood in his stance again and watched Sooka slowly get up as he wiped a trail of blood from his lip. Sokka just turned back towards his opponent and wordlessly resumed his stance.

Aggravated, the bald warrior rushed in to attack once again, but Sokka was faster as he closed the gap between them and sent a kick into his chest and knocked the wind out of him, but Sokka didn't let up as he sent a second kick into the chest of his opponent, sending him into the wall where he cornered him and began his assault with a straight right hand and a right hook, followed a chain of punches into the chest, causing his opponent to grunt in pain with each strike. Desperately, the arrogant warrior threw a right hook, but Sokka reacted quickly by intercepting it with his left forearm in mid strike while he stroke with a right fist into the mid-section of his opponent and pulled him into him to knee him, but Sokka wasn't able to as his opponent got a hold of his shirt but didn't let him capitalize as he made his opponent fall back as he tried to throw him into the ground, but stopped halfway when his opponent used his own strength to stop Sokka's push and tried to get him off of him when he grabbed on the back of Sokka's vest and Sokka did the same thing, but with Sokka having more leverage, was able to throw him off into the ground as pulled him with a twist of his body and rapidly mounted him to deliver hard rights into the face;

"Do you yield?" growled Sokka with his fist cocked back, but got a defiant no. Sokka again delivered a hard right and asked the same question.

The two goons that accompanied one of the combatants quickly rushed to interfere in the fight by trying to jump Sokka from behind, but were quickly put to a stop when a small wave slammed in between Sokka and the two goons, freezing into a small wall between the two parties;

"What do two think you're doing?" asked Pakku as he slowly walked into the scene with three other warriors, coldly glaring at the two warriors that were about to interfere, "Have you no honor to comply with the rules of the fight and accept defeat when he has proven he is better."

By now, Sokka had released his hold on his opponent and allowed his opponent to get up, gaining Pakku's attention as his cold glared bore into him;

"As for you, your behavior will no longer be tolerated," said Pakku, "Your arrogance brings shame to the rest of your comrades. The three of you will be held inside the brigs till we reach the South Pole, where I will decide your punishment, take them away," ordered Master Pakku and watched as his warriors took them away to the brigs, then he turned towards Naruto and the group;

"I apologize for their behavior, it won't happen again, I assure you," said Pakku as he bowed, but Naruto dismissed it offhandedly;

"No worries about, they had it coming to them," said Naruto lazily as he waved, causing the water-bending master to shake his head with a small smile on his face before he turned back and walked away. Then suddenly, he turned back towards the group;

"Be sure to get plenty of rest, for tomorrow will be arriving at the departing point where you four will depart towards the Earth Kingdom," informed Master Pakku as he resumed his walk back towards his quarter, leaving the group by themselves.

Naruto, after watching Master Pakku walk away, he turned around and saw the interaction of the group, seeing how close the three of them were as Aang and Katara praised and hugged Sokka on his victory. Despite the fact Aang wasn't related to them by blood, he was still treated as part of their family. Naruto lowered his gaze as he slowly began to feel out of place . . . and extremely homesick. Without saying a word, the blonde lowered his head, his bangs shadowing his eyes as he turned and left the three of them on deck, leaving them puzzled at their friend's sudden behavior as they turned to each other;

"What's wrong with him?" asked Sokka confused

"I don't know," responded an equally confused Aang, "He was fine a second ago."

Katara didn't say anything as she watched him disappear through the crew of the ship, concerned for the blonde;

"Naruto . . . "

- / | \ -

Night had fallen and everyone on the ship was fast asleep, all except one person. Naruto could be seen on the side of the ship, watching the moon as he rested on the rails of the ship using his forearms. His mind was going through all of the things that have happen to him and contemplating of the friends and loved ones he left behind, but mostly, his thoughts were about his weapon mistress;

"God, I miss you Ten-ten," thought Naruto as he stared into the moon, the image of his late wife appearing on the light of the moon, "A part of me tells me that you wish for my happiness, but I'm afraid of doing so, I can't bear the thought as if I were betraying you," closing his eyes, as he tried not to cry, he lowered his head, griping on the wooden rails hard, as the wood gave away by the pressure of his handgrip. Slowly raising his head, his eyes were blood red instead of their warm blue, intense rage raging within him, "How I regret not killing Sasuke when I had the chance. Many catastrophes could have been avoided and this world would still be living in peace," then his eyes softened as his eyes were turning back to their usual color, "And you and I would have lived in happiness, peacefully raising our son together . . . . . a son I never had the chance to meet."

Not far from him, his animal companion was watching his master go through an emotional turmoil within himself and not wanting to see its master depressed no more, Shen quietly walked towards him and nuzzled its snout against Naruto's shoulder, causing the blonde to look at him in mild surprise before he broke into a small smile and rubbed his snout, causing the dragon to growl softly. Naruto simply looked back at the moon as he still massaging his dragon's snout;

"Even though . . . I was robbed in raising my own flesh and blood, I still have a chance to guide my child's reincarnation in the right direction," thought Naruto with a sigh, "Even if his beliefs and childish attitude tend to be annoying at times."

Suddenly, Naruto tensed up when he heard approaching footsteps, looking to the side, he saw Katara talking to a sad looking Aang, both were unaware of his presence as they continued to converse till Katara finally noticed him when she caught sight of Shen. Aang still hadn't noticed Naruto's presence, but felt better after his chat with the native water girl and bid her good night as he went below deck to get some rest. After seeing Aang was completely gone, she turned towards the blonde and walked towards him;

"Hey Katara," greeted Naruto with a waved of his hand and a fake smile on his face, which Katara was able to see through;

"Don't," she said flatly as she turned towards the ocean, surprising the blonde

"Don't what?" he asked playing dumb but that only made the girl more annoyed;

"I can see through your mask Naruto," stated the girl, "I can see that you're sad and hurt."

Deciding to cut the charade, he turned towards the ocean and both stayed quiet for a while, not a word was said as the two stared at the glow on the surface of the ocean, provided by the moon;

"I feel so out of place and . . . alone," suddenly said Naruto out of the blue, making the girl look at him with confusion till her eyes widen in realization;

"You miss your family," said Katara softly as she reached out for him by gently placing her hand on his shoulder as she recieved a nod from the blonde;

"I was to be father when my village was about to be attacked," said Naruto, causing Katara to widen her eyes in shock and sadness, diverting her gaze from his sight;

"If he was going to be a father, then that means he was . . . ." turning back towards Naruto, she stated, "You were married, weren't you."

Looking directly into her eyes, he spoke, "Yes, I was."

"And you seek the dark fire-bender out of revenge," stated Katara, but was surprised when the blonde just shook his head;

"No, I learned the hard-way that revenge just leads to more darkness. Although, I know he and I are bound to cross paths cause of Aang. I will do everything in my power to make sure he doesn't harm baldy, as penance for not being strong enough," declared Naruto, "Strong enough to have chosen the decision that needed to be made," thought the blonde the last part as he stared at the moon with a fierce look of determination, but Katara just quietly went up to Naruto and slapped him hard across the face, surprising him greatly as he stared at her in the eyes;

"Stop talking as if you're all alone in this, because you're not!" yelled the girl in his face, "Do you think that your family would want you to drown in misery silently or live it to the fullest?" she ranted without breaking eye contact, but she wasn't finished, "Do you believe that if something were to happen to you, we would not be affected!" "That I won't be affected!" she said as she thought last part in her mind;

"We may not your real family nor have no intentions of replacing it either, but we think of you as one of our own and we do care for you Naruto," said Katara with tears beginning to form at the corner of her eyes.

Naruto stared at Katara blankly before he dropped his head with a small smile and lift it right back up to reached out for her cheek to wipe away the unshed tear;

"Thank you Katara," said Naruto sincerely, "And I'm sorry for being a knucklehead."

Katara just wiped the rest of her tears before she went up to him and hugged him tightly, burying her face on his chest as she came in terms as to what her feelings for the blonde were as she hugged him even tighter;

"But you're our knucklehead," she said softly, while thinking, "You may not be the bender that Aunt Wu predicted, but I cannot deny what I feel in my heart."

- \ | / -

Morning had arrived and everyone on board the ship was gathered to watch their heroes off. While Naruto was preparing for his take off, he was watching Pakku giving Aang and the others parting gifts for their journey to the Earth Kingdom base, where they will be escorted to Omashu so baldy could begin his earth-bending training. Katara received some sort of necklace that that, he guessed, held some especial properties from the vibr he was getting from it. Aang received a wooden box that held the insignia of the water-tribe. Although he felt bad for his student, he couldn't help but laugh on the inside when the wolf-tailed warrior simply received a farewell and a pat on the shoulder, disappointing him as his shoulders hung low and turned towards the bison to mount him. Naruto watched them take off into the skies as he mounted his dragon and was about to order Shen to do the same but was halted by Master Pakku;

"Naruto, may I have a word with you," said Pakku as he approached the blonde swordsman with his hands behind his back;

"Sure Master Pakku, what's on your mind?" said/asked Naruto

"I ask a favor from you," said Pakku as he stared in the eyes of Naruto, making him somewhat nervous;

"Uh . . . Sure, what is it that you need is?" asked the blonde uncomfortably

"Protect Kana's grandchildren, I know I shouldn't worry since they are traveling with the Avatar and should trust him as his former teacher, but the fact is that he's still just a child and will probably be overwhelmed by future obstacles ahead of him," said Pakku as he closed his eyes

"You see them as your own, don't you Master Pakku, despite not being related in blood," stated Naruto with a small smile, while Pakku just nodded his head, "Don't worry, I'll watch over them."

"You have my thanks Naruto," said Pakku as he bowed in respect, but suddenly Pakku held a serious look in his eyes as he raised his head, making Naruto slightly nervous, "Also, I advise you not to hurt Katara in any way. She's quite taken with you as her feelings grow stronger, although from seeing how stubborn she is, she won't admit it outright," then he narrowed his eyes dangerously at the blonde, which made him even more nervous, "So you break her heart and I'll break you in two, do we understand each other?"

Naruto just nodded his head rapidly, wanting to get away from the aged master as soon as possible. Pakku satisfied with the answer, he became cheerful as if nothing happened;

"Good, go along now, don't want to fall behind now do you," said Pakku as he walked off

After seeing Pakku walking off, Naruto quickly got off his stupor and turned towards Shen;

"Take to the skies now! Before he comes back!" ordered Naruto hurriedly. Shen just snorted and jumped into the skies, following suit after the flying bison.

- / | \ -

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Iroh is relaxing and getting a massage at a beautiful spa resort. Zuko however, is unhappy, realizing it has been three years to the day he was banished from the Fire Nation. He desperately wants to reclaim his honor, the throne, and his father's love. His uncle tries to cheer him up, but he's unsuccessful to do so.

However, both of them were unaware of the threat that was heading their way as it continued its trek at sea. A Fire Nation ship carrying Princess Azula is arriving at the Earth Kingdom to capture her brother and uncle. The captain of the ship warns the princess of the waves crashing against them, telling her that they won't allow them to make it to port on time, but Azula didn't want to hear none of that and threaten the captain's life by over throwing him off board and let the waves smash him against the rocks. The captain apologizes and heads back to the cabin in haste, out of fear of the princess fulfilling her promise out of spite.

Noting that no one was around, Azula let out a sigh as she dropped her mask. Slowly, she walked towards the rail, watching the waves with sad eyes as they crashed on the rocky terrains, her older brother occupying her thoughts.

"You need to learn how to be patient, my apprentice," a voice suddenly said from behind, startling her slightly.

Putting her mask back on, Azula turned around to see her master approaching her with his hoodie down and hands behind his back. A middle aged man with long raven hair (A/N: think of Madara's hair style.) flowing freely by the winds while his onyx eyes stared at her. Azula then kneeled down out of respect and slight fear;

"My apologies Master Sasuke," said Azula as she raised her head. The sharingan wielder just waved his hand dismissively, telling her to rise to her feet, while he kept walking towards the rails of the ship, "Tell me Azula, how you plan to capture your targets, since you are eager to reach our destination."

Azula gritted her teeth before replying with an emotionless face;

"Through deception master. Zuko blindly seeks our father's recognition that he'll believe anything I tell him concerning our father."

"I see," muttered the Uchiha before he turned around to face his student, "I shall accompany you."

Azula kept her poker face while perfectly hiding her shock, "And why is that master? If you don't mind me asking."

"While your abilities have proceeded beyond my expectations, don't forget that your uncle is the famed Dragon of the West," reminded Sasuke with a glare, "And even though he retired from the army, his skills are still in par or better than your father's."

"Forgive me master," said Azula as she bowed her head lightly, "But I ask you to allow me to handle this matter my way."

"And why is that, Azula?" asked Sasuke narrowing his eyes

"Because master, with your presence, my uncle will know something suspicious is aboard and will do everything in his power to evade us, considering your reputation and hailed as the Dragon of Black Flames," "Please, buy it!" replied Azula with the same stoic face while on the inside she was desperate for her lie to work.

Azula's master didn't say anything for a few minutes as he pondered his disciple's words in his mind before he nodded his head, "Alright, I'll let you handle this matter your way," he said as he walked closer to her, till he was glaring at her directly in the eyes, "Don't fail."

Azula slowly nodded her head and watched her master walk away inside the ship, leaving her clutching her hands together in a hate filled glared in her eyes.

- \ | / -

Back with our heroes, after flying for a good while, Naruto began to see something off the distance as they got closer. Narrowing his eyes as they continued to fly closer, he realized that they were reaching the outpost;

"Heads up everyone! We have reached our destination!" shouted Naruto as he pointed at the fortress that looked a shape of a ring with four straight-ish wall sections shooting off.

As soon as the animals landed, all four of them got off and stretched their sore limbs, while a man suddenly came behind them and greeted them with open arms;

"Welcome Avatar Aang! I am General Fong," said the general, surprising the group as they turned back to see the general and his little fleet of earth-benders bow at the presence of the avatar. Standing up straight, the general continued sucking up, "And welcome to all of you great heroes! Appa, Momo, Brave Sokka and the Mighty Katara!"

"Mighty Katara, I like that," Katara said with her arms crossed while her brother smiled at the recognition.

Then his eyes fell onto Naruto, gaining a look of surprise from the general before he bowed towards Naruto, "And its great honor to have you in my fortress as well, Naruto no Mujihi."

"Mujihi?" asked Aang, "What does that mean?"

"It means merciless or ruthless," answered Naruto, to which Fong nodded;

"That is correct," confirmed the general as he gestured the group to follow him inside the tower, "The surviving warriors from the fire nation navy are spreading the tales of your exploits at the North Pole."

Once inside, Fong was sitting behind his desk on top of the tower;

"Avatar Aang, we were all amazed at the stories of how you single handedly wiping out an entire fire navy fleet at the North Pole. I can't imagine what it feels like to handle devastating power. It's an awesome responsibility," said General Fong while he strokes his beard, making Aang rub his head nervously;

"Well, technically, I wasn't alone," replied a modest Aang

"We are well aware of the Crimson Avatar's involvement at the North Pole, but since no one knows of his whereabouts, we cannot rely on him to help us," said the general as he closed his eyes and laid back on his chair as he stared at Aang, "But you, young Avatar, you're ready to face the Fire Lord now," suddenly said Fong, making the whole group gape at the man.

"What! No I'm not!" exclaimed Aang.

"Aang still needs to master all four elements," intervened Katara.

"Why? With the power he possesses a power that matches the Avatar of legend and be able to defeat hundreds of ships in mere minutes, he can defeat the Fire Lord now!" said General Fong raising his voice as he stood up on his feet;

"But sir, Aang can only do that when he's in the Avatar state," informed Sokka

"You see the Avatar-" began the young avatar, but was rudely interrupted by the general;

"I'm well aware," said the general, "Your eyes and tattoos glow, and you gain unbelievable power. Without you we'd be slaughtered before we reached their shores. But, with you leading the way, as the ultimate weapon, we could cut a swath right through to the heart of the firenation."

Naruto glared at the man with disdain, reminding him too much of Danzo but stayed quiet, wanting to see how Aang would handle the situation;

"Right, but the thing is I don't know how to get in or out of the Avatar State much less what to do once I'm there," Aang said uncomfortably.

"So it's decided then, I'll help you figure out how to get in the Avatar State and then you'll face your destiny," proclaimed the General

"Nothing's decided! We already have a plan, Aang's pursuing his destiny his way," argued Katara as she and her brother got up to their feet.

"Very well, while you take your time learning the elements, the war goes on," General Fong said, "May I show you something?" he then led them to the window, overlooking a smaller building where various wounded soldiers limped/walked near it.

"That's the infirmary and those soldiers are the lucky ones; they came back. Every day the Fire Nation takes lives. People are dying, Aang, you could end it now! Think about it" General Fong said before he walked away, or so he tried.

Naruto, having enough of the manipulative bastard, turned towards the retreating form of the general;

"What the fuck did you expect in a war" announced Naruto angrily which made Fong stop running his mouth and turn while the rest of the group stared at the blonde at his outburst in shock, "Casualties happen in a war, it's unavoidable," then the blonde's glare intensified, "But it's the arrogant bastards like yourself that look for a fake sense of glory that make the number of casualties rise with the bodies of your own instead of your enemies, " Naruto added coldly while the General just stared at the blonde without a word, and just like that, he left the room.

Later that day, during the nighttime at the Earth Kingdom Outpost, General Fong sat behind his desk looking at his maps as the bald, tattooed, orange clad monk approached;

"General Fong?" Aang said, his gray eyes looking downwards as he spoke.

"Come in, Aang! Have you thought about our discussion?" General Fong said pleasantly, knowing that the avatar had caved in;

"I'm in; I'll fight the Fire Lord!" Aang said gaining resolve as he spoke, causing the general to smile broadly.

After his talk with the general, Aang returned to the group's quarters and made his way to his bed. As soon as Aang entered the room, Naruto eyed him carefully, reading Aang's body language. After watching him for seconds, he took a glance on the kid's eyes and sighed, knowing what Aang had done;

"I told the General I'd help him, by going into the Avatar State," announced a defeated Aang to the group, causing Katara to frown in disapproval;

"Aang, no, it's not the right way," said Katara from her bed.

"Why not? Remember when he took out the fire-navy? He was incredible!" argued Sokka as he lay on his own bed.

"You seem to forget a crucial fact, Aang cannot control the Avatar state," Naruto put his two cents from his spot, laid out on his bunker bed above Aang's. Sokka then rolled on his side to look up at Naruto;

"What makes you say that?"

"Why ask me when you were there Sokka," responded the blonde as he now rolled on his side to look at everyone over the edge, "But in case you don't understand dimwit, I'll explain it; Aang wasn't in control, the Crimson Avatar was the one who disposed of the fleet while suppressing Aang to make sure he didn't become a loose cannon or did you forget the previous times Aang had gone into the Avatar state and let his emotions get the best of him."

Sokka didn't have anything to say for he remembered the time at the air temple and the one when Aang was taken by Zuko on his ship;

"And if the kid wants to really master the Avatar state, then he needs to do it the old fashion way," said the blonde with finality

"Naruto's right and the right way to do this, is through practice, study, and discipline," Katara said.

"Or just glow it up and stomp that Fire Lord," stubbornly said Sokka, seemingly forgetting about the incident the previous incidents and having not heard a word that was previously said.

"Fine if you two meat heads want to throw away everything we've worked for, fine! Go ahead and 'glow it up!'" said Katara as she threw her arms up in the air as she got up and walked out of the room.

Annoyed with how circular the conversation had become, Naruto just leaped off the bed and walked towards the door stopping with the door halfway open as he turned back towards the two;

"If that's the course of action you plan to follow, that's fine, but don't count on my help on this matter," declared Naruto as he too, walked out of the room.

"Katara! Naruto! I'm just being realistic, I don't have time to do this the right way," Aang said helplessly, but it still didn't sound as convincing to him.

- / | \ -

Back on Azula's ship, the princess herself was seen on deck, by herself as she took deep breaths and exhaled as she practiced lightning generation, a highly advanced form of Firebending, with Her royal advisers, Lo and Li, watch her progress from afar as the lightning bolt shot off into the distance;

"That was almost perfect," remarked one of the old crones

"Just by a hair," remarked the other old crone

"Almost isn't good enough," thought Azula while gritting her teeth as she resumed her stance and readied to shot another lightning shot.

- \ | / -

The next day, Naruto was waiting outside of the room, leaning against the wall while everyone was getting ready to go meet the general. Then the door was opened with Katara being the first one to walk out of the room. Closing the door, she turned around only to slightly jump out of surprise when she saw her blonde friend;

"Naruto, don't scare me like that," said Katara as she tried to calm herself down by taking small breaths. After bringing her heartbeat down, she looked at Naruto, "What are you doing here Naruto? I thought you would be with the general waiting for us."

Naruto just shook his head, "No, I was waiting for Aang to come out, but can you deliver the message for me please?"

"Sure, what is it?" asked the young water-bender;

"Can you to tell Aang that I won't be accompanying him on this . . . farfetched quest to achieve the Avatar state. If I do go, I'll end up breaking the General's neck," informed the blonde, not surprising the girl one tiny bit;

"You also believe this to be a waste of time," she stated more than asked, which the blonde gave her a nod;

"Yes, the general used Aang's beliefs of life value against him and Aang, by feeling guilty for disappearing for over a century, feels even more responsible for the casualties," summarized Naruto

"Then what are you going to be doing if you're not going to join us?" asked Katara curiously, which only received a shrug of the shoulders;

"Most likely practice my swordsmanship or meditate and wait till Aang realizes he's just wasting time," replied Naruto as he got off the wall and walked down the hallway, not before he stopped for a bit and turned back to Katara, "If there's trouble, come get me."

Katara just nodded her head and watched him walk deeper into the hallway as he disappeared when the blonde made a turn. Letting out a sigh, she turned to the opposite way to meet up with General Fong.

Once Aang and the group met up with Fong, they quickly began to put Aang through tests to try to trigger the Avatar State;

First, he serves Aang a special herbal tea which increases energy ten-fold in normal soldiers, and in theory, it should give the boost of energy required in order to jump into the Avatar State. However, it had the opposite effect as Aang did get a boost, a sugar high boost as he was air-balling all across the place, talking uncontrollably as it began to annoy the living hell out of everyone, making Sokka make a comment about 'talking the Fire Lord to death,' only to have the young monk crash face first into a pillar behind the siblings.

The second attempt was made by Sokka who summarized that Aang would reach the Avatar state by being afraid at a certain point, which it made Aang unsure of the method, but was willing to give it a try if it helped him reach the Avatar state. By Sokka's signal, Katara covered both of the monk's eyes with her hands for a few seconds, till she uncovered them, revealing Sokka using Momo as a second head while he hid his own inside his shirt. Aang was indeed surprised by the effort, but it failed since there was no glow coming from Aang.

Their last attempt was when Fong organized a ritual. Unknown to everyone gathered in the chamber, Naruto was watching silently from the shadows as he leaned against the wall and watched Aang wear the clothing from all four nations. The shaman or whatever he was began chanting some nonsense as he held a jar of water on one hand and a bowl of dirt on the other. Suddenly, the shaman poured the water first into the container in front of him, then the bowl of earth. Throwing both objects away, the shaman reached behind him to grab a torch and dumped it into the container as well. Then out of the blue, he pulled out an air blower bellow to blow air into the container;

"Are you fucking serious," thought Naruto with a twitch on his eyebrow as he continued to watch the shaman chant till he grabbed the container and threw its contents at Aang. The young Avatar complained of having nothing but dirt on him, but he stopped when he began to feel a twitch, making everyone believe the ritual had an effect . . . only for Aang to sneeze and blow the dirt all over everyone. Naruto wasn't surprised when this attempted failed as well and just shook his head disapprovingly before he retreated back into the shadows and headed back towards their quarters.

- / | \ -

Back with Iroh and Zuko, they had arrived on their resort after walking around and collecting shells, to which Zuko was annoyed beyond belief;

"We don't need any more useless things now," complained the former prince, "You forget that we have to carry our things now."

"Hello brother . . . Uncle . . ." said a voice that made both of them slightly jump, but Zuko quickly recovered as a look hatred marred is eyes as he quickly turned towards the opposite corner of the room to find Azula, sitting on the table;

"What are you doing here?" demanded heatedly and coldly towards his sister, seeing red as he wasn't able to see the slight flinch and look of hurt in her eyes before she schooled herself with an indifferent mask;

"In my country, we exchange a pleasant hello before asking questions," replied Azula with a bored expression as she played with one of the shells on the table with her fingers. Slowly, she got off the table and walked towards her brother, "Have you become so uncivilized so soon Zu-zu," she questioned with a smirk.

"Don't call me that you bitch!" shouted Zuko in boiled rage. Azula just closed her eyes to keep herself in check, but luckily, Iroh intervened as he stepped between the two;

"To what do we owe this honor?" asked the former general with his arms placed inside the sleeves of his robe, watching the girl carefully to figure her out, but all she did was let out a small sigh;

"It must be a family trait, both of you so quick to get to the point," concluded the princess as she opened her eyes and continued to play with the shell in her hand till she placed her hands behind her, "I come with a message from home; father changed his mind, family is suddenly very important to him. There have been constant rumors of overthrowing him, treacherous plots," said the princess, eyeing the scarred prince carefully, "Family are the only ones he can really trust," suddenly she turned towards the window, "Father regrets your banishment, he wants you home."

Zuko just stood there quietly as he digested everything that was just said to him, unresponsive as he stared at the ground;

"Did you hear what I just said," asked Azula looking at him in the eye, "You should feel happy, excited, and grateful. I just brought you good news."

"I'm sure your brother needs a moment to –"began Iroh till he was interrupted by the princess with a glare, shutting him up quickly. Turning back towards Zuko, she walked closer to him, "I still haven't received a thank you, I'm not a messenger, I didn't have to come all this way to tell you this."

"Father regrets . . . he wants me back . . . "said the banished prince softly, making Azula sigh;

"I see that you need to time to take this in," concluded the princess as she walked towards the door, "I'll come to call on you tomorrow, good day Zu-zu."

And like that, she walked out of the resort, leaving the two by themselves. Iroh sent a worried glance to his nephew before he followed Azula out;

"Azula!" called out the general, gaining the young girls attention, staring at him with insignificance;

"What do you want Uncle?" asked Azula rudely, causing Iroh to frown in disapproval;

"I know my brother better than you think, so what are you really doing here, Azula?" asked Iroh emotionlessly as he narrowed his eyes at the princess;

"Like I told Zuko, father regrets banishing him and wants him back. If you don't believe me Uncle, then that is your problem," responded Azula nonchalantly as she shrugged her shoulders and turned back towards the road walking away, "Now if you excuse me, I have to return to the ship, buh-bye."

Iroh just watched the girl walk away, frowning as she did so;

"What happened to you Azula?" asked the former general, making Azula stop shortly, "You were once a kind girl that adored and looked up to her brother."

Azula didn't say anything for a while and wordlessly, she walked down the road, leaving Iroh behind as he watched her disappear down the road. Sighing, the Dragon of the West turned back towards the resort, only to turn back spontaneously when he caught sight of the shell that Azula was finger playing with, laying on the floor on the same spot Azula was once standing. Curiosity getting the best of him, he reached down and picked it up, carefully inspecting it as he looked at the outer shell. Still not being satisfied, Iroh flipped the shell and his eyes narrowed when he found some scratches etched on it and began trying to figure out slowly, causing his eyes to widen in shock he piece them together. Carefully reading it over and over again to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, he looked up at the road with a grim expression.

- \ | / -

Back at the fortress, Aang was watching the sunset from watch-post, thinking of how to get into the Avatar state so he could go and end the war;

"Aang."

The young avatar heard his name being called out and turned to see who called him, only to grimace that it was Naruto that had announced his name as he approached him;

"You have a moment?" asked the blonde

"Yea . . ." replied the young monk with uncertainty as he turned to face Sokka's master;

"Do you remember how you felt when you found the remains of your former master?" asked the blonde suddenly, catching Aang completely off guard;

"How do know about that?" asked/demanded Aang as he watched Naruto walk towards the arm rests of the watch post;

"Katara told me," replied Naruto without looking at him, "She's worried about you, you know."

"How is she worried about me?" asked Aang softly, intrigued about Katara's concern for him;

"She's afraid of you losing yourself by entering the Avatar state through your rage and pain," responded Naruto as he turned to stared at Aang right in the eye, "She sees you as part of her family and it pains her to feel powerless when your rage consumes you."

"But the Avatar state –" Aang tried to argue, but Naruto harshly cut him off;

"The Avatar state is a helpful tool that is granted to you as you journey through the mastery of the elements," said Naruto sternly, causing Aang to flinch at the tone he was being spoken, "Without looking underneath the underneath of each discipline, you won't be able to find balance and thus, the Avatar state will be rendered useless if you aren't able to control it and just wildly attack everything around, including the love ones that care for you."

"But you don't understand Naruto," shouted Aang desperately, "I'm not strong enough on my own! I wasn't strong enough to protect Katara when we were ambushed at Jeong Jeong's camp and you ended up being the one to rescue her! I wasn't strong enough during the attack of the North Pole and the Crimson Avatar had to step in since I was being overwhelmed! And to make matters worse, with each passing day the war continues, more people are losing their lives!" argued the young monk as he shouted at the passive blonde, "I'm already a hundred years late and defeating the fire lord is the only way to end this war! I have to try it!"

Both didn't say a word after Aang had finished his little speech. A few more seconds passed before Naruto let out a tired sigh and wordlessly turned back where he came from, but not before he stopped a couple of steps;

"You should've thought about that before you chose to run away and abandon those that needed you. Regretting your choice of action isn't going to bring back your people or the loved ones the people lost in this war," said Naruto harshly without turning around to address the young monk, but he wasn't through either, "But if that is your decision, then don't expect Katara to come bail you out because of your foolishness," at that comment, the monk got mad at the blonde's words;

"Who are you to make someone else's decision! You don't speak for her!" shouted Aang angrily;

"He does speak for me on this matter Aang, because I also don't agree with this idea of yours," said Katara out of the blue as she walked out of the door and walked next to the unturned blonde, looking directly into Aang's eyes, "I can't watch you do this to yourself. I'm not coming tomorrow," she said with her arms gently wrapped her arms around herself as she turned to follow Naruto back inside, leaving Aang hurt and angry.

Back inside, Katara and Naruto were walking down the corridor in silence;

"Naruto . . . You're being too hard on Aang," said the water tribe girl softly. Naruto slightly turned towards Katara with emotionless face;

"And you're protecting him too much," countered the blonde

"He's just a kid Naruto! A kid that was given a major responsibility that we possibly cannot comprehend," argued the young water-bender.

Naruto didn't say nothing as he just closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath and slowly exhaled while opening his eyes, sharply looking at Katara, who gave a sudden gasp of fright as she took a step back as she stared into his eyes;

"There are many things you do not know about me Katara, but I do know what is like to be placed with such weight on the shoulders," emotionlessly stated Naruto as he turned around and walked away, leaving Katara by herself and her thoughts;

"Those eyes . . . . ." thought the girl as she watched the blonde make a turn down the corridor, unable to get the look of his eyes out of her mind;

"They held such coldness and emptiness" thought Katara with a shudder before she looked down the hall the blonde had walked down, "Just who are you Naruto?"

- / | \ -

Later that day, night time had come at the resort where Zuko and Iroh were residing at the moment. If you were to look inside the building through the window, Zuko could be seen going back and forth with clothing in his hands with a bright smile on his face;

"We're going home! After three long years, is unbelievable," exclaimed Zuko happily in disbelief, still not believing it himself. Iroh, however, remained quiet as he sat at the table, still looking at the shell that Azula had dropped;

"It is unbelievable," commented the former general with turning towards his nephew, "I have never known my brother to regret anything."

"Didn't you listen to Azula?" retorted the banished prince he a glare directed at Iroh, "Father has realized how important family is. He cares about me."

Iroh stood from his chair and looked at his nephew with pleading eyes, "I care about you! And if Ozai wants you back, well . . . it may be for the reasons you imagine," retaliated the general, crossing his arms in the end with his eyes closed.

"You don't know how my father feels about! You don't know anything!" growled Zuko as he turned his back at his uncle, refusing to listen. Iroh let out a sigh as he dropped his arms to his sides, trying to reason with his wayward nephew;

"Zuko, I only meant that in our family . . . things are not always what they seem or have you forgotten the sudden change that befell our family when he appeared," reminded the general, causing Zuko to grimace as he knew too well as to whom his uncle was referring to and the overnight change Azula and his father had but his pride didn't let him see reason and in anger, he turned and lashed out at his uncle;

"I think you're what you seem! A lazy, mistrustful, shallow old man who's always been jealous of his brother and weak minded for not accepting the offer of power presented to you by him," said Zuko angrily, not seeing the hurtful look in his uncle's eyes as he stormed off, leaving Iroh by himself.

Iroh simply watched as his nephew walked out of the room and tiredly, let out a sigh till he looked at the shell once again, with a coded message scratched on it;

"Be on guard or the black flames will consume everything."

"I don't know what kind of game you're playing Azula," muttered the Dragon of the West as he slowly narrowed his eyes, "But if he's truly here, then I must protect Zuko at all costs." The shell was crushed in his hand as he formed a fist and stared out into the darkened night.

- \ . / -

Back at the fortress, Aang suddenly woke up, sweating as he had another dream of him being in the avatar state, thus fueling his belief that Katara and Naruto were right and forcing himself to go into the avatar state being a bad idea. Deciding tomorrow he would talk to the general with hopes that General Fong wouldn't get upset.

The following day, Aang and Sokka stood in front of the doors of General Fong's office, his resolve slowly leaving as he didn't want to disappoint the general. Sokka, seeing the hesitation, placed a hand on his friend's shoulder;

"Don't worry about happens, just make sure that you believe that the decision you're making is the right one," Sokka told his bald friend

"Do you think the general will get mad?" asked Aang

"Of course not! You're the Avatar, who knows better than you?" reassured the native warrior with a grin. Getting his confidence back, Aang opened the door and both of them walked into the general's office.

"Aang, how may I help you?" greeted the General politely.

"General Fong, I wish to continue with my journey and achieve the Avatar state in my own way," announced Aang. Fong simply placed his hands in front of him as he passively stared at Aang;

"I see, what made you change your mind Aang?" questioned the general

"The thing is, I don't think we'll be able to trigger the Avatar state on purpose, and I guess that's it since I don't see any purpose of continuing," replied the young monk

"You sure I can't change your mind?" asked Fong

"I'm sure. I can only reach the Avatar state when I'm in genuine danger," replied Aang as he slightly dropped his shoulders

"I see . . . I was afraid you would say that," muttered Fong before he shoved the massive boulder desk at Aang, sending him across the room and out the window;

"Aang!" shouted Sokka as he tried to go and help his friend, but Fong's soldiers quickly restrained him in place as he watched the general walked towards the destroyed wall that Aang was thrown out of;

"Men! Attack the Avatar!" order the General before he jumped out to confront Aang, causing a small quake on his landing.

Sokka remained restrained as he heard Aang's pleas to stop the madness, but it fell on deft ears as the rumble of earth being bent to attack the young avatar. Unable to take it anymore, Sokka lazily raised his right leg and brought it down with a loud stomp, stomping the foot of one of his captors, hearing the bones being crushed and being let go so the injured soldier could nurse his broken foot. Seeing his chance, Sokka quickly turned to face his other captor, who still held onto his arm as he refused to let go, that is until the young warrior sent a straight palm into the soldiers chest causing him to gasp for breath as his grip as the earth soldier stumbled back, loosening his grip on Sokka. Not wasting time, Sokka stepped in between the two as he tore his arm from the soldier's grip and rapidly launched a series of attacks; chops to the neck and collar bone, underneath punches to the mid section, palm or punches sent to the face to both of them as he switch back and forth till he stopped his assault. Huffing, he watched the two fall to the floor unconscious with a thud.

After regaining his breath, Sokka rushed out the room to go help his friend.

"If it isn't Zuko giving us problems, it's another lunatic that it is," muttered the wolf-tailed warrior as he rushed down the stairs.

- / . \ -

Speaking of our favorite banished prince, Zuko was walking down the stairs of mountain, heading towards the port where his sister's ship had made land only to stop abruptly when the sight of said ship came into view.

Many things were going within his mind, but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone shouting from the top of the mountain;

"Wait! Don't leave without me," said Iroh as he descended down the stairs. Zuko's face lit up with happiness when he saw his uncle;

"Uncle, you changed your mind," said the prince happily as his uncle stopped in front of him with a sincere smile on his face.

"Family sticks together, right?" commented Iroh as he placed his hand on his nephew's shoulder. Zuko simply nodded his head before he looked back towards the ship once again;

"We're finally going home," announced the prince as he went his way down the stairs once again, leaving Iroh behind for a few minutes, not noticing the hardened look his face portrayed that never left his face as he too began to walk down the stairs.

Once they had reached the bottom of the stairs, awaiting them was the ship's crew, with Azula and two soldiers at her side at the deck of the ship. Both quietly walked between the pathway the crew had cleared, reaching the ramp to aboard the ship;

"Brother, Uncle, welcome," greeted the princes with a smile while on the inside she was cursing her lazy uncle;

"Damn it Uncle! I left a warning about him being here so you could get Zuko out of here, but noooo . . . . . you just had to be so lazy and troublesome," thought the princess with anger before her eyes began showing fear, "But I do hope you know what you're doing."

"I'm so glad that you decided to come," said Azula as she maintained the façade.

The soldiers filled up in two single lines behind Iroh and Zuko. The captain of the ship turned towards princess;

"Are we ready to depart, your highness?"

"Set our course for home, Captain," ordered Azula as she turned her back.

"You heard the princess! Raise the anchors, we're taking the prisoners home!" shouted the captain, realizing his mistake as he watched the princess tense up at his slip up.

Azula let out a sigh of relief at her plan being discovered. She knew full well that her master was within the shadows of the ship watching her every step, making it unable to warn her uncle. But with the captain's mistake, there is still a chance that Zuko won't be captured. The sound of people being sent to the water, courtesy of Iroh, made her snap back to reality, that and her brother's shouting;

"You lied to me!" shouted an enraged Zuko as he attacked the two soldiers that accompanied Azula, sending them overboard. Azula simply looked over her shoulder at her brother with a Cheshire grin;

"Not my fault that you've become so stupid these past couple of years to tell the difference Zu-zu," mocked Azula as she half turned around and placed a hand on her head, "Seriously, years ago I couldn't pass one on you and now I played you like a puppet."

Zuko simply made fire daggers and rushed towards Azula, slashing wildly at her. The princess just stayed calm as she dance around her brother's attacks till she locked one his arms and turned him around to deliver a palm strike into his back. Zuko regained his footing and turned towards his opponent with a heated glare, but was suddenly punched in the back of the head as he fell to the ground, barely maintaining consciousness as he tried to lift himself back to his feet, but was unable to do so as his attacker stomped his foot hard on his back. Zuko looked over his shoulder to see who had attacked him, only to gasp in shock and fear when he saw his attacker;

"You . . ." gasped the scarred prince

"How foolishly of you to believe that your own father would want someone as you back on his side," coldly stated the Uchiha, "Your own father believes you to be a miserable failure, just like Iroh as he failed to conquer Ba Sing Sei and betrayed us at the North Pole."

The Uchiha pressed his foot harder against his back, causing the scarred teen to grunt in pain while Azula could only watch helplessly, but then she heard a cackling noise coming closer from behind and looked to the side and gasped before she dived to the side in attempt to dodge the oncoming projectile.

Sasuke looked up only to see a lightning enhanced flaming ball coming straight at him before it impacted close from him, sending him overboard while Zuko hit the rail of the ship, rending him unconscious. Azula uncovered her face to search for her brother but noticed that her uncle was already attending him.

Seeing that the boy received no major injuries, Iroh hoisted his nephew over his shoulders and walked towards Azula. Seeing the worry in her eyes, Iroh's eyes softened a bit;

"Your brother is fine," announced Iroh, causing Azula to sigh in relief. Then Iroh turned from his nephew to his niece, "But why are you helping us. First you coded message me that Sasuke was here and now you're not even trying to assault us."

Azula simply closed her eyes as she turned her head;

"Not everything is what it seems Uncle; you of all people should know that."

Iroh nodded his head at understanding. Softly, he placed a hand on her shoulder;

"I promise to take of him Azula," declared Iroh, before he broke into an apologetic smile, "And please forgive me for what I'm about to do, but have to make it look like we escaped."

Not giving her a chance to say a word, Iroh kneed her hard in the stomach, causing her to gasp for air and received a hard back hand strike, sending her hard into the ground with a bruise slowly forming on her cheek as she watched her uncle run out of the ship, disappearing deep in the woods of the forest before she lost consciousness.

A couple of minutes later, Sasuke emerged from the water and skillfully landed on his feet, his armor scorched on his right side while his arm was damaged a little as he surveyed the area till his eyes landed on the unconscious form of his student. Narrowing his eyes, the last Uchiha let out a growl as he stared at the forest;

"You may have managed to elude this time Iroh, but next time you won't be so lucky."

- \ . / -

Back the fortress, within the group's bedroom chambers, Katara sat there by herself with Momo keeping her company. With each quake she felt, she couldn't help but feel uneasy at the pit of her stomach.

"I wonder what crazy thing they're trying now," murmured Katara to herself, watching as Momo just shrugged his furry shoulders and went to sleep. Sighing, the water tribe native girl couldn't help but think on the conversation she just had with the blonde a moment ago;

- ( Flashback ) –

"You're leaving us?" asked Katara in disbelief

"I have to," responded the blonde as he packed his bag, "There's a rumor going around within the fortress that Omashu has being seized by the Fire Nation."

Katara's eyes widen in horror;

"What about King Bumi? Is he alive?" desperately asks the water-bender

Naruto simply hoisted his bag over his shoulders and turned towards the girl with a solemn look;

"I'm not sure," honestly answered the blonde, "But I'm not going to stay here and wait for them to do so," as he walked towards the door.

Katara abruptly turned around towards the blonde;

"I'll go with you!"

Naruto stopped at the door, halfway open, but looked over his shoulder, giving Katara a soft look;

"I'm sorry, but I cannot take you along with me this time," said Naruto remorsefully, causing her to grow angry;

"Why not! I'm not the same girl you had to rescue from those pirates months ago," argued Katara, "Please, I can help you."

Naruto softly placed his bag on the floor and walked towards her, softly placing his hands on her shoulders as he looked at her directly in the eye;

"I know that Katara and you have progressed a lot this last couple of months," confirmed Naruto, "But Aang and Sokka need you more, those two bone heads are lost without you, for you're the voice of reason within this group," then without a word, he hugged, surprising her greatly as she let out a small gasp, "This is just temporary, we'll meet again in Omashu. Till then, stay safe."

Slowly, he broke apart from her and walked towards the door as he lifted his bag and walked out of the room.

- ( End Flashback ) –

"Please be safe Naruto," whispered Katara before she cringed at the tremor of another quake. Not being able to ignore the feeling in her stomach, she got out of the bed and went to go look for Aang.

- / . \ -

Meanwhile, said blonde was flying on his dragon at high speeds, trying to reach Omashu as soon as possible as he dashed through the clouds.

"Damn that General," cursed Naruto, "And Aang too for his damn naivety."

But before he could have continued his rant, Shen suddenly nose dived, free falling as Naruto pulled on the reigns really hard as he closed his eyes and grit his teeth, to make Shen pull up, but the dragon refused to obey the command. Opening one eye, the blonde noted that if his animal companion didn't let up, they would crash land into the trees below, but at the last minute, Shen let up and hovered over the trees, causing Naruto to wipe his forehead with his forearm and let out a sigh. Then he glared heatedly at his companion;

"What the hell is wrong with you! Trying to kill me by giving me a heart attack!" yelled Naruto, but the dragon just snorted and pointed its snout towards the giant tree that overshadowed the rest of the swamp;

"You want me to go over there?" asked Naruto, feeling some sort of tug within his being, as if the tree itself was calling out to him. Shaking his head, Naruto turned towards his dragon, "Look, we cannot stop here and waste time. We have to reach Omashu as quick as possible," he said as he pulled on the reigns and instructed his dragon to fly, who reluctantly did so as he began to pick up height.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a massive tornado appeared in front of them, trying to pull them in within the vortex. Shen put up a fight as he tried to fly away, but the wind currents were too strong as the both of them were sucked into the twister. Within the twister, Naruto held on onto the reigns till he decided to disperse the tornado by making a tornado of his own as he slammed both of his fists together and made a twister, expanding it to the sides. But suddenly the twister gained a power boost as it constricted Naruto's vortex and dispersed it completely, dismounting him from his dragon as he was sent off into the forest, crashing down onto the muddy swamp as he skidded on top of the water till his back crashed with the trunk of a tree and landed face first onto the muddy ground, muttering as he struggled to get up;

"Damn it . . . I must be rustier than I thought if I can't handle a simple tornado," groaned the blonde as he got up to his feet, chuckling as a thought came to mind as he looked towards the sky with a sad smile, "Heh, if I ero-sennin were to see me now, he would say I have gotten soft and have been lacking on my training before hitting me in the head and put my ass through hell."

Then he grew a serious look on his face and looked towards the giant tree that was visible from his position, the feeling he had felt earlier becoming stronger;

"Why does it feel familiar," mused the blonde before he jumped into a tree branch and began trekking towards the tree, "If I'm stuck here, might as well find out who or what is calling out to me and if I'm lucky, I'll find that dragon as well."

As he continued to use the trees to move around the swamp, he couldn't but think of Katara;

"I hope . . . I did the right thing by leaving her and those two behind . . . . Nah, she's strong and intimidating when angered, they'll be alright."

Unfortunately, unknowns to him, they were far from ok.

- \ . / -

After Katara sees General Fong attacking Aang, she asked her brother what was going on, only for Sokka to fill her in on what was the general's intention. Both of them intervene to help defend Aang. However, General Fong captures Katara with earth-bending and begins to lower her into the ground in another attempt to induce the Avatar State. As Katara continues to sink, Aang begs for Fong to release her. Instead, Fong completely buries her. Enraged, Aang enters the Avatar State to Fong's delight, but begins to destroy everything in sight.

After seeing that his plan had worked, Fong releases Katara, but was now feeling with dread as he watched Aang continue to destroy his base. Unknownst to everyone, Avatar Roku appears to Aang, releases him from the Avatar State just like he did to Naruto and explains exactly what the Avatar State is, and that if the Avatar is killed while in the state, the Avatar will cease to exist without the certainty of the Crimson Avatar being able to recreate the cycle again. After Roku sends Aang back towards his body, he notices General Fong is still gleeful over having induced the Avatar State, only for Sokka to knock Fong into unconsciousness. After noticing that their fourth member was missing and began to ask questions, Katara informed the two that Naruto had gone ahead and would meet up with them at Omashu, leaving out about the news of the city being taken over and so, Team Avatar departs on Appa for Omashu on their own with the intention of meeting their blonde friend at the city.

- / . \ -

Back with our favorite blonde, Naruto spent a good while trying to reach the giant tree, slowly growing impatient as he stopped and landed on the ground, staring at the distance he still had to trek to reach the tree;

"Damn it! How far is this damn thing!" complained Naruto before his left ear twitched and turned to the left with his hand in a palm thrust, shooting out whirling compressed air into the tree, puncturing right through it as it made the tree crumble. Naruto simply relaxed as he stared at the fallen tree and shook his head, slapping both of his cheeks and comically pulling them down;

"Great . . . Now I'm hearing things," muttered the blonde before a fit of giggles were heard throughout the forest, causing Naruto to be on guard, "K, now I know I heard it this time."

The giggling now came from far ahead and narrowing his eyes, he could see a couple of feet a away a couple of children, twins, a boy and girl no older than seven wearing an outfit that seem identical to the Southern Water Tribe. But what had his focus fixed on them was the traits they had that he could feel some sort of familiarity with them. The boy was a little taller than the girl with light brown skin, lighter than Katara but darker than him, spiky wild brown hair and blue eyes that reminded him of Katara's while the girl had his shade of eye color but her hair was smooth, tied in a ponytail. Her skin was darker than the boy's; if he were to guess, he would say that the little girl's skin color was close to Katara's skin color. As he kept eyeing them, he found a necklace hanging around both of their necks, adorned with fangs with a makeshift of a dragon's head in the middle and in its mouth was a symbol that made his eyes go wide in shock. It was his family's clan symbol, the whirling whirlpool of Uzugakure and the Uzumaki clan.

The children giggled again before they ran away from him, snapping Naruto out of his surprise;

"Wait!" shouted Naruto as he ran after them, not noticing that the twins had run in the same direction as where the tree was located. Run fast and hard he did, but nothing seemed to give him an edge against the two;

"What the hell? How can two seven year olds out run a seasoned shinobi," wondered Naruto in his mind only to see them jump in the clearing.

"Got 'em," smirked the blonde he jumped after them in the clearing but as soon as he landed, he noticed that they were nowhere to be seen. With his guard up, the blonde looked around to find them, but he could no longer hear their giggling or their footsteps. He continued to search for them as he moved in a cirlcle, "Those two kids couldn't have gotten far."

Then he heard the sound of a branch being stepped on and turned towards where the sound had come from;

"Who's there? Show yourself!" demanded Naruto as he pulled out two kunais, one on each hand, ready to fight in case someone decided to jump him. However he wasn't prepared when a girl no older than 17 or 18 stepped out of the shadows.

"Katara?" asked a very surprised Naruto, but then he narrowed his eyes, "No . . . You're not her, who are you?"

The girl in front of him might look like Katara, but she wasn't. Katara's eyes were a draker shade, not lighter and her hair was in a pigtail with hair-loopies on each side of her face while the girl in front of him had her hair in a high ponytail and instead of hair loopies, she had her hair tied in two more ponytails, one adorning on either side of her face. A water tribe sleeveless vest with some band with water-tribe markings on her right bicep and two wristbands covering her whole forearms. She wore the regular pants and boots of the Water Tribe people, but she wore an extra piece of clothing around her waist, covering her backside down to her calves. But was also shocking to him, is that just like the twins from before, this girl also had the same dragon carve necklace with the Uzumaki symbol in its mouth. (A/N)

"I ask you again, who are you girl?" demanded Naruto in a serious manner, but his only response was the girl coming at him at high speeds with her hands extended out and bending the water around her hands, jumping into the air as she transformed them into blades that covered her arms up to the elbows. Anticipating an attack, Naruto simply stepped to the side as he dodged a downward strike from her right arm as she landed but quickly recovered as she did a vertical slash with her left, only for Naruto to jump slightly back, narrowly dodging the attack as a few strands of his hair were cut off;

"She's fast," thought the blonde as he eyed her carefully as she chased after him, slashing at him, but Naruto dodged by either ducking, leaning back or slightly jumping a little bit whenever she tried to strike at his legs. However, he knew he couldn't stay on the defensive for long, smirking he had a thought in his mind as he blocked with forearms a double downward slash against the girl's forearms, "She's good on the offensive, but let's see how she is on the defensive."

Then he used his strength to push her off, but the girl didn't let off as she did an overhead slash with the intent of cutting the blonde diagonally. Anticipating this, instead of blocking the attack, he rushed forward and countered with an overhead chop strike, both attacks meeting till the sound of something being cut cleaned was heard through the forest as both of them were feet apart with their backs facing each other. The iced blade landed a couple of feet in front of Naruto and both of them turned around facing one another. The girl inspected her weapon before she shook her hand and made the ice covering her hand into a liquid, creating a water-whip. Naruto simply through the ground with both of his hands and pulled them out, his hands now covered in make shift rocky boxing gloves (A/N: think of hellboy's big rock hand.) and rushed at the girl with his right hand cocked back for a thundering blow, but the girl ducked and tried to counter with a side slash but the blonde blocked with his left boulder glove and sent a knee strike to the girl's chest, sending her up in the air and tried to deliver a spinning kick but Naruto ducked under it , however, he didn't see the girl whipping out the water-whip at him and catching him by the neck. Realizing in the danger he was in, he used his fire manipulation to raise the temperature of his body to vaporize the water and countered once again with a right hand strike at the girl who was still airborne, but to his shock, the girl raised her fist into the air and made a wall of earth rise, blocking the blonde's attack by a minimum, as Naruto's punch pulverized the wall.

The girl jumped back and landed on her feet, quickly taking advantage of Naruto's lack of focus as she launched massive flamethrower at him, but Naruto simply dissolved the rocks on his hands into sand and made a shield to protect himself from the flames, turning the sand into glass. Gaining his breath, the blonde cocked his right hand back and countered with his own flamethrower, shattering the glass and overpowering the girl's fire attack. The girl seeing that her attack was overpowered, she quickly cancelled out her attack jumped ten feet back and watched Naruto's attack hit the mark where she was standing a few seconds ago.

Naruto waited for the smoke to disperse and see what is opponent was planning, but after the smoked cleared, he saw her just standing there, in front of a large shadow. Both didn't say a word for a while and nothing was said as the girl turned around and walked inside the shadows. Seeing her walk away, he chased after her;

"Hey! Wait up damn it!" shouted Naruto as he also ran into the shadows but as he continued to walk deeper and deeper, somehow the shadows slowly seemed to disappear till they were completely gone, making Naruto stop dead on his tracks with his eyes wide open at what was in front of him.

He was at the base of the giant tree, but what was really in front of him was the main gate of Konoha, all time worn and abandoned with the symbol of the hidden leaf still showing proudly on top;

"It can't be . . ." muttered Naruto in disbelief as he walked through the main gate of the village. After taking a few steps inside, he saw how everything was still intact, just barely, as the light that was to get through the tree's trunk illuminated the village. Slowly, the blonde walked past the gate as in a trance down the main road that lead towards the Hokage's building and monument. Memories assaulting him of his time back in Konoha, memories he had made with his friends and loved ones. After walking down the main road for a while, he began looking to the side and right away he saw the Ichiraku ramen bar as a memory assaulted him. Ayame and her father were standing behind the counter, waving happily at him with his former academy teacher, Iruka, sitting at the usual spot he would sit in whenever he and Iruka would eat ramen. Next to him, were the members of the Sasuke Retrieval team (Chouji, Neji, Shikamaru, and Kiba with Akamaru sleeping under the table) all of them holding cups of sake with a fifth one sitting on the table untouched, looking at him with big grins as they waited on him to join them. He closed his eyes as if believing he was seeing things, but he reopens them and their images slowly faded away, leaving behind a rundown stand that could collapse at any minute. Letting out a sigh, the blonde continued on his way, walking down a couple more blocks down, he could see the hospital at the far right. Again he was assaulted with another memory as the building came to life and at the entrance of the hospital was Hinata, Shizune, Ino and Sakura, staring at him with sad but warm smiles as they waved at him. Again, the blonde closed his eyes and reopened them again, only to see that the building was half standing as the rest of it was already crumbled to the floor.

Taking a different route, Naruto soon came near one of the training grounds and instantly, he recognized that this was the training ground where he always sparred with Gai and Lee along with Kakashi. Just like the time before, Naruto saw the training field the same way it was back then, but Gai and Lee were standing there, giving the good guy pose as they smile and small twinkle appearing on their grins while Kakashi sat on top of a boulder, with his favorite porn novel in hand as he eyed smiled at him. Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head violently, wishing the memories would stop resurfacing, but once he looked up only to see a field with grass knee high, trees all over the place with a few animals running amok.

As Naruto continued to walk down the village, he came across the plaza. A place that was always busy with stands placed in a circle so it wouldn't crowed the way. But instead, in the middle of what used to be the plaza, stood a statue. From afar, he could not make of its features and so, he rushed to get a clearer view and to his greater surprise, the statue was a memorial tribute to him.

Standing at 17 ft tall, a statue of him stood on a pedestal made out of marble. With his arms across with his foxy and cocky grin plastered on his face with a look of determination, wearing what resembled the Hokage robes with the kanji of 'avatar' on the back. On the pedestal was a tablet with some writing. Curious, he kneeled down and read its contents;

"This is a memorial to our lost friend Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze.

A shinobi. A friend. A husband and father. A hero and a Hokage.

You shall never be forgotten."

After he read the tablet, Naruto slightly lowered his head as his bangs shadowed his eyes as tears began to roll down his cheeks with his eyes shut closed. Then suddenly, he opened them as he faintly felt as if two arms were wrapping around his shoulders and slightly felt a faint peck on his forehead. Looking up, he could see the faintly image of his surrogate mother figure looking at him with tears on her eyes as well with a small, but proud smile till she slowly disappeared.

Smiling softly, Naruto looked towards the Hokage's monument and stared directly into Tsunade's face;

"I love you too, mother," whispered the blonde softly as he picked himself back to his feet as he wiped the tears away and continued his trek down the village as he took the road that lead to the Namikaze state.

After a long walk, Naruto found himself standing in front of the gate of his home. The Namikaze state once beautiful back in the day now it looked it had seen better days. It was still standing, but it was cracked on most places as some holes were showing with seeds growing out of them. Taking a deep breath, Naruto walked pass the gate and headed into his house as he slowly opened the door and walked into his house, staring into the torn down home that was once his and Ten-ten's home.

Taking a few steps inside, he noticed right away that on the chimney were some old pictures that were surprisingly still intact. Walking towards them, he gently lifted one of the photos and blew away the dust, the picture revealing a picture of him and his wife smiling wide on their wedding day. The blonde smile softly as he gently put the picture down and lifted another one. Gently he blew the dust away as it revealed another picture of them on top of the Hokage mountain, but a two month pregnant Ten-ten being hugged by the blonde. He remembered that day clearly, it was the day he found out he was going to be a father and couldn't have been the happiest day of his life. Putting the picture down, he looked at the last photo that was remaining and couldn't help but smile sadly as he saw the picture of his wife holding a boy that looked to be no older than two.

"My son," muttered the blonde as he traced the boy's features with his finger

"He's beautiful isn't he?"

Naruto turned around only to gasp in shock as he saw his wife standing at the entrance of the house.

"Ten-hime . . ." whispered the blonde disbelievingly

Ten-ten smiled softly as she approached her one-time husband. Her features hadn't changed much except gaining a few wrinkles under her eyes and a few strands of gray hair on her hair, but none the less, she still looked very beautiful.

"Hello anata," said Ten-ten lovingly as she reached out and stroked his cheek.

"Ten-ten," said the blonde with so much passion that she could feel heavy on his words. Looking at her with sorrowful eyes, he spoke; "Forgive me Ten-chan, for not keeping my promise to you. Forgive me for not being there for you and our son-"

He would have continued but was silenced when she placed a finger on his lips;

"It's ok love, there's nothing to forgive," she declared, "I knew of the possibility of you one day not coming back to me and I was fine with that because with each day we spent, you showed me how much I meant to you and despite you being gone from me, I still had a piece of you in our son," then she grew slightly serious, "Naruto-kun, everything that you have bottled up inside you, let it go."

"But Ten-chan, it is my fault that you and I couldn't grow old and die together, it is my fault since it was me that chose to give Sasuke the benefit of a doubt instead of killing him, it is because of me that -," argued the blonde but quickly stopped himself and looked to the side in shame.

" 'That Katara lost her mother,'" finished Ten-ten for him but Naruto didn't say anything. Ten-ten reached out for his face with both her hands and made him look at her in the eyes.

Naruto felt worse than shit, here he was telling his wife that he loved her when he was subconsciously thinking of Katara. He didn't want to look into ten-ten's eyes and find the anger, disgust, or hate, but when she made him look at her, he didn't found nothing but love and understanding;

"Love, I know of the growing feelings you have for the girl and I approve of her, she has a kind heart, but you need to be honest with her," wisely said the weapons girl, then she looked at him with loving eyes, "Do me one final promise Naruto."

The blonde suddenly grew serious, "Anything."

"Promise me that everything you feel inside you, all the anger, the hate, the sorrow, the guilt -everything – you'll let it out and live your life happily, even if it means sharing your heart with another, promise me," pleaded Ten-ten as she watched Naruto hesitate but eventually took a deep breath and looked at her with loving eyes;

"I promise Ten-hime, it's a promise of a lifetime" said Naruto but a grumbling growl interrupted them as they both turned towards the entrance and saw Naruto's dragon standing there with what could be a smirk on its snout;

"You!" shouted the blonde with a glare while Ten-ten giggled at him;

"I see that you met your former students," claimed the former weapon master, giggling even more at his stupefied face.

"Students!"

She nodded her head as they both watched the dragon give a faint glow and small vortex surrounding it, separating into two beings. The blonde covered his eyes to shield his eyes, but once the vortex had died out, Naruto uncovered them and gasped when he saw two adults in front of him wearing similar robes like Inari when he was at the North Pole, but the difference was one was red with the fire emblem on the hood and the other had the earth emblem on its hood as well;

"Konohamaru . . . Udon . . ." muttered the blonde in disbelief then a thought came to him, "Wait if you two are here, then where is Moegi? I know she conjured that tornado."

"I'm right here," an elderly voice came from the room next to the chimney room as she walked up and stood next to her sage brothers. Her features covered by her orange/brown robe with the air emblem on her hood.

Then at the same time, the three of them reached for their hood and slid back off, revealing their faces to their former master. Konohamaru looked like how Asuma would look if he had lived at Sandaime's age. Udon resembled an uncanny resemblance to his grandfather, except the only difference was that Udon had a black bandana wrapped around his head, covering his eyes and had slightly longer hair. Moegi looked like she aged slowly, but still had the elderly look.

"It's been a while, boss," greeted Konohamaru while Udon and Moegi bowed towards their former master. Then Konohamaru grew serious as he stared at Naruto;

"Master, there's a few things we need to tell you," began the fire sage

"If you referring about Sasuke, then I already know everything I need," interrupted the blonde

"Avatar Roku may have told you what had happened this past century, but he didn't know at the time about the coming comet," informed Udon, earning a confused look from Naruto

"Comet? What comet?"

"Sozin's comet," informed Moegi, "Sasuke, henged as Fire Lord Sozin, used the power of the comet to deliver the first strike and begun the war by exterminating the Air Nomads."

"And now, his descendant, Fire Lord Ozai is going to use its power to end the war," finished Udon

"But there's more, isn't it," stated the blonde he stared at his long time friend and pupil.

Konohamaru nodded

"Yes, the comet gives every fire-bender a power boost that could give the Avatar a hard time, but with Sasuke being able to control the dark flames, no one would be able to stop him from causing a major scale eradication of these lands as he wishes to be the sole ruler of the world."

"So basically we have another Madara in our hands, except Sasuke is going to use lethal force," summarized the blonde

His former students nodded their heads.

"There's another thing you should know," said Udon, "Search for the Library of Wan Shi Tong."

"The library of Wan Shi Tong?" asked Naruto, getting a nod from Konohamaru

"Wan Shi Tong is an ancient spirit that collected knowledge of our history, the Rikudo Sennin and the Jubi, the nine bijuu, jutsu, fighting styles, you name it," said the fire sage, "But the reason I say look for it, is because there's a fighting style created by one of your son's reincarnations."

"A lightning base tai-jutsu style that can give you a fighting chance against Sasuke's lightning manipulation," informed Moegi, "Raiden no ken."

"Raiden's Thunder Fist," muttered the blonde, then he looked at his former students, "And where is this library located at?"

"The library is hidden deep inside the desert of the Earth Kingdom, sorry that we can't be much of help," apologized Moegi with a sad smile

Naruto waved his hand dismissively, "It's alright, at least I know where to start looking."

Naruto began to notice the four of them slowly beginning to fade away. Ten-ten smiled sadly at her blonde;

"Our time is up love, we stayed in the world of the living after our passing, lingering on as we believed that you hadn't died like everyone else thought and held on till the day we could see you again," said Ten-ten. Slowly she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck as the blonde wrapped his around her waist, "Remember your promise anata, live happy and don't be afraid to love again."

Both separated from each other and Naruto watched his weapons girl walk back with tears on her eyes towards the entrance of the state where his students stood.

"We'll see each other again, Ten-hime," said Naruto with a tear stricken smile on his face

"We will when the time comes Naruto-kun," replied Ten-ten as her form became transparent while the three sages had already vanished.

"I love you."

"I love you too anata, always."

And with that, Ten-ten Namikaze disappeared from the world of the living.

Naruto stood there in silent as he still stared at the spot his wife had been standing and slowly he closed his eyes as he took a deep breath and exhaled it out as he opened his eyes. A new fire had been ignited as he walked out of the house with a new purpose. Once outside, the blonde looked upward where the sun light was able to go through to the tree and smiled broadly;

"Through every dark night, there's a brighter day," murmured the blonde, "Thank you Ten-hime and I'll see you again, but not yet . . . not yet."

And without a warning, Naruto used his wind manipulation to boost up his speed as he rushed through the deserted village of Konohagakure no Sato only to stop once he reached the main gate and looked back over his shoulder for a few seconds till he smiled;

"All of you may be gone, but you aren't forgotten for all of you live in my heart and memories," said the blonde before he ran as fast the wind, leaving behind a big cloud of dust.

If he would have stayed behind after the cloud dispersed, Naruto would have seen all his loved ones standing at the entrance of the gate smiling broadly and proudly as they slowly faded away.

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Cut!

Here you folks, sorry for the long wait, but I do hope that the chapter is to everyone's expectations. A few things I want to clear up

Azula's behavior will be explained once I began to type the chapter for the episode "Zuko Alone" so until then, let me know what you guys think. Like many of you, I wasn't pleased with her going looney, but I hope to change that.

Second, I apologize if some of you disagree with me about getting rid of Naruto's animal companion, but it had to be done for what I wanted to do near the end of the chapter.

And I hope you guys can tell who the mystery girl is from the swamp and yes she has a connection.

Now on a personal note, I appreciate and thank the readers that have been reading and waiting for the oncoming chapter, and I do appreciate more those that give me pointers on how to make the story better, (which I hope I have been doing) but to those that read it and tell me that the story is shit, well I don't a shit. As many other authors who have told their flamers, "if you don't like it, don't read it."

Other than that, thank you and hope ya'll enjoyed the chapter.

Kyu no Ken