There have been few situation where Naruto has been surprised, accidently walking in one Mrs. Beifong while she was changing being one of them, but never more than at his very moment. This random female guard, who looked a lot like a younger Kyoshi, had just called him Lord Naruto before dragging him off to a secluded area, followed by the rest of the gang. It was there that Naruto learned that this girl's name was Suki and she was a Kyoshi Warrior, and apparently, Naruto hadn't reached that part of Kyoshi's book yet. So Suki took it upon herself to explain just what the past Naruto had done.
"It all stated after the attack on Avatar Kyoshi's village, when the past you drove all the armies back. You convinced Kyoshi to train a group of non-benders so that if either of you are gone then the village would be safe. Ever since then the residence have held both you and Avatar Kyoshi in high regard," Suki explained in a very, possibly overly, respectful manner.
"So let me get this straight, you respect me because of something I did roughly four hundred years ago as a different person?" asked Naruto, still not really believing it himself.
"Of course, Avatar Kyoshi said that if you were to ever appear again then it would be our duty, as Kyoshi Warriors, to assist you. She wrote that you may not wish to have our loyalty without doing something to earn it but you have it none the less," said Suki before giving a small bow, making Naruto almost roll his eyes at how insane his life was becoming.
"Well what do you guys think about all this?" asked Naruto, tilting his head to glance at the rest of the gang.
"It's your choice really; after all you are the one that Avatar Kyoshi left in charge of them whenever you appeared again," said Katara while Naruto's eye twitched in annoyance.
"I think it's really unfair that when you first meet Suki, she is all respectful but when we first meet her we nearly got killed!" complained Sokka and that got Naruto's attention.
"You nearly killed them?" Naruto asked Suki, to which she nervously scratched the back of her head.
"Well we also made Sokka wear a dress and Aang saved are village by using the Unagi!" Suki suddenly blurted out before covering her mouth.
"Suki!" Sokka yelled in embarrassment.
"Oh man I'm never going to let you live that down Sokka," Toph laughed while holding her sides and falling on the floor.
"Sorry, I'm just really nervous; I never thought I would meet the man who drove back two armies almost single handedly," said Suki, while wondering why she was suddenly acting like a fan girl when she is usually so confident.
"Look, as far as I'm concerned, I'm not the person who was married to Avatar Kyoshi, I'm not the man who saved your village, and I haven't earned your loyalty. I'm an Earth-bender, I've sworn to protect Toph Beifong with my life, and I'm currently trying to figure out how to get control of my new variation of Earth-bending," said Naruto, his tone showing that his patients were wearing thin.
"New variation?" asked Toph, voicing everyone's question.
Naruto turned to one of the stone railings before simply placing his hand on it and concentrating. Naruto's eyes suddenly became pitch black and a second later the entire stone railing was reduced to black dust. In other words, Naruto had just aged the stone till only dust remained and even then the dust faded into nothing.
"I learned that back in the spirit library, more specifically from the original Naruto. He showed me a great many things, such as why I'm constantly reborn with each new Avatar and what my purpose in life is," Naruto explained, a harshness to his voice that he had only used when Toph had been taken, back with everything was so much simpler.
"Avatar Aang, Avatar Aang please help us!" cried someone from down on the main floor and when the group looked down they saw it was the family they had given a ride to earlier that day.
"What's wrong?" Aang asked before he jumped off the guard tower and landed a few feet from them.
"We managed to get our tickets for the boat but, when we left to get some food, someone stole all of our belongings. Please, you have to help us," the man begged, and then Aang got that look in his eye.
(Five minutes later)
"Aang, you do know that this is how our little adventure to the Spirit library began?" Naruto asked as he helped the pregnant woman into Appa's saddle while Aang helped pack up their supplies.
"What could go wrong?" Aang asked innocently, only for Naruto to smack him on the back of the head.
"Don't say that! It's like you're asking for something to go wrong!" Naruto hissed.
"Like that's ever stopped something horrible from happening," said Toph with no small amount of irritation in her voice, which caught Naruto slightly off guard.
"Something bothering you Toph?" Naruto asked.
"No," was her response but it was a lie.
"Aang don't leave without us, I need to talk to Toph in private," Naruto said as he lowered himself back to the ground and motioned Toph to follow him just out of hearing range.
"What's been bother you Toph?"
"I don't know, maybe it's because you've barley spent any time with me since we began this little trip, or maybe it's because you dumped me on the rest of the gang back in the Spirit library. Or maybe it's because you've barley even spoken to me!" Toph yelled but her mouth was quickly covered by Naruto's hand.
"The whole point of talking in private is so that the entire world doesn't hear us," said Naruto, his tone soft compared to when he berated Aang.
"I don't care if they hear me, I'm mad at you!" Toph screamed the moment Naruto uncovered her mouth.
"Then be mad at me more quietly," Naruto said, his temper beginning to flair.
"And what if I don't want to? Afraid to be embarrassed in front of your little, Kyoshi Warrior, fan club? Well guess what, I don't give a crap!" Toph hissed as small vibrations shook around them in response to Toph's anger.
"What do you want me to do about it?" asked Naruto, deciding it might be a better idea to cool her off than add more fuel to the fire.
"I don't know, maybe do Earth-bending with me like we use to or let me, at least, rest up against you. I miss when you let me fall asleep up against you, I miss when you use to lecture me for sneaking out at night to fight other Earth-benders. Why can't it just be like when it was the two of us?" Toph asked, actually striking a cord in Naruto's heart.
"Toph we're both growing up and doing some of those things aren't as innocent as they use to be," said Naruto.
"To who, other people? Since when do we care about what other people think?"
"Since puberty!" Naruto hissed quietly, with a small blush on his face that was soon mirrored on Toph's face.
"W-What?" Toph shuddered, making Naruto look down with a much deeper blush than before.
"Toph please don't make me explain puberty to you," Naruto begged, only for Toph to smack him on the head.
"I know what puberty is you idiot. Mom explained it to me a few weeks before the Avatar showed up," Toph said, now much quieter than she had been for the last five minutes.
"This just got very weird," Naruto said, once again proving he was the master of stating the obvious.
"No really?" Toph asked, sarcasm evident in her voice.
"Not helping Toph."
"What, you think it's any easier for me to admit I've had a crush on you for the last year?" asked Toph, proving that she was the master of being blunt as a bolder.
"S-Say what?" asked Naruto.
"You know, for a powerful Earth-bender, you're very dense."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence Toph, really helping the situation," perhaps they were using too much sarcasm at this point.
"Hey are you guys coming or what?" asked Sokka, who was waiting on Appa just like everyone else.
"What do you say Toph, want to go on a little trip, just the two of us?" asked Naruto, hoping that if she said yes then they could iron our all the wrinkles that have formed recently.
"Sorry Aang but me and Naruto are going to walk there, we'll meet you guys on the other side," said Toph, not really knowing how they would find each other but it usually always works out in the end.
"Um, ok then see you guys in a few days," said Aang before he signaled for Appa to take off, leaving both Earth-benders standing there.
"So, how do we get to Ba Sing Se?" Toph asked before Naruto let out a nervous chuckle.
"I maybe forgot to look at the map to see which path to take," Naruto nervously said while Toph gave him the blind person's version of a glare.
"If you weren't an Earth-bender I would burry you up to your neck and leave you there for a few days," said Toph and, for a very good reason, Naruto hoped she was joking.
"Aw man they left without me!" cried none other than Suki, who was now dressed in her Kyoshi Warrior armor and face paint.
"Oh hey Suki," Naruto greeted.
"They left you guys here to?" Suki asked, surprised that she only noticed Naruto when he called her name.
"Actually we were going to walk there but Mr. Forgetful here forgot to look at a map, to see which direction to go," said Toph, making Naruto lower his head in depression.
"Oh, well I have a map," said Suki as she pulled a rolled up map out of her armor.
"Well since you wanted to go with them and we're heading that way, why don't you travel with us," suggested Naruto.
"Oh I don't want to impose," said Suki, to which Toph silently agreed.
"You won't impose in the slightest, in fact we could use the company, and that way we both get to where we want to go."
(One hour later)
"So this is the Serpents Pass? I thought it would be curvier, like a serpent," said Naruto as he looked at the narrow path that let them to Ba Sing Se.
"We should be careful when crossing, the Fire Nation have been patrolling this area for the last couple of weeks and, rumor has it, they've been working on something massive on the other side," said Suki and, sure enough, they could see a Fire Nation ship crossing the small body of water.
"Well I guess that's the point of walking to Ba Sing Se, instead of flying. It's more fun and you get to have some interesting adventures," said Naruto as they all began to walk up the first cliff.
"You make it sound like you've done this before," said Toph.
"I have actually, I made it all the way to Ba Sing Se before turning around and walking away. Just something about it made me feel like I would be wasting my time there. So, about a year later, I stumbled upon your small city and then spent the next several years being your protector. Trust me, I felt that was so much better than being trapped in a massive city," Naruto explained.
"So you two knew each other before meeting the Avatar?" Suki asked, glancing at Naruto out of the corner of her eye.
"Yep, Naruto here was hired by my parents to protect me and he's even the reason I'm an Earth-bender in the first place. He even taught me how to see," said Toph, allowing a small smile to form from those fond memories.
"Wait, you're blind?" asked Suki, who was generally shocked.
"You couldn't tell?" Toph asked.
"Well you seem to get around just fine and your hair covers your eyes rather well, I just thought that was your hair style," said Suki.
"Nope, I can't see like normal people so Naruto taught me how to see through my Earth-bending. He can do it to but, because he isn't blind, it's not as well tuned as my own. Still, it makes play Hide-and-Go-Seek almost impossible," said Toph only to be interrupted by a massive chunk of burning rock slamming right into their path.
"Fire Nation War Ship!" Suki yelled and, sure enough, there was a war ship firing another burning rock at them.
"Jump over the ledge!" Naruto yelled just as the flaming rock sailed right over their heads.
"Are you crazy, the fall will kill us!" yelled Suki, only for Naruto to grab her by the hand before jumping over the opposite side of the cliff, followed shortly by Toph.
As they slid down the side of the large cliff, Naruto was constantly trying to keep his balance and make sure Suki didn't lose hers. The whole point of jumping off the cliff was so that the war ship wouldn't be able to fire at them but Naruto was still trying to figure out how to stop them before they hit the rocky waters below. Luckily, Toph was able to Earth-bend a slab of rock out of the side of the cliff for them to land on. Now all three of them stood there panting, trying to calm their racing hearts.
"Told you (pant) new adventure," Naruto panted, with a grin on his face.
"I think that was the most fun I've had since leaving Kyoshi Island."
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