Mission in the Land of the Four Elements

I don't own Naruto or Avatar the Last Airbender

Prologue

The veil of darkness covered the former Earth Kingdom village, forcing people back to the safety of their homes for the night. The darkness signaled the end of a hard day's work for the people in the Fire Nation colony, a sign that it was time to rest and hope that a better day would come tomorrow.

As night settled, activity in the village dwindled. Even the patrol of Fire Nation guards had thinned after sun set, and that was exactly what Yukio was counting on.

There was no time to rest, not for a young boy with big plans for that night.

One hundred years ago, the Fire Nation had started the Great War against all the other nations. That was the moment when the nations hadneeded the Avatar the most, but he vanished without a trace, and had never beenseen since. After that, things just got worse: the Air Nomads were wiped out first being the more peaceful and vulnerable nation and few in numbers, followed by the attacks on the Water Tribes that caused the death of many water benders especially in the less united Southern Tribe . And, last but not least, the Earth Kingdom suffered several defeats at the border against the Fire Nation's troops.

Now, many villages in the Earth Kingdom had fallen under the Fire Nation as colonies, and their people had to work under the rule of the dreadful fire lord Ozai, living in fear for their lives every day.

Yukio's parents hadtold him that there was still hope; that they had to believe in the Avatar, believe that he, or she would return some day to save the world; that they just had to hang on a while longer until that moment came. But Yukio knew better. He had lost hope a long time ago. The Avatar wasn't coming to save them. If anyonewanted to be saved, they would have to do something about it themselves.

He had a plan he had been working on for almost three years now ever since he found out about the veil and the world behind it. The plan itself wasn't anything special, but it took him a long time to find out how to open a portal to the other side of the veil.

And tonight was the night when he would open that portal.

He slowly opened the door to his house and searched the streets for any sign of Fire Nation soldiers patrolling the area, then carefully made his way to an abandoned building at the outskirts of the village, taking a longer but safer path through the peripheral streets. He blocked the entrance using his earth bending and started drawing a complicated seal on the floor. The seal had several circular intricate layers and characters in an ancient, almost forgotten language that was used during the time of the first Avatar. It was said that the first Avatar himself created this seal after a journey in the spirits' world but feared to pass down its knowledge, except for a chosen few, to a world that was not yet ready to receive it.

The procedure was complicated, and he had to concentrate to get it right. Layer after layer of different shapes appeared by his hand with a precision mastered after months of practice. Each addedlayer played an equally important part in opening the portal. Yukio knew that well, because he understood the nature of the veil. The veil was nothing more than a combination of the elements, so all he had to do was to remove with each layer the effect each element had upon the veil. First there was darkness, the element all the others started from, the primordial form of all elements. Second was lightning, the first form of condensed energy. Third was fire, an element that derived from lightning and made the connection with the others. The fourth element was air, followed by water, and thenearth. The last layer of the seal represented light, the opposite element of darkness. There was much ancient knowledge behind this seal that very few people mastered but Yukio was certain that he got it right.

The intricate pattern took time to complete. Minutes dragged into hours as Yukio's charcoal scraped designs on the abandoned building's stone floor. With the final stroke, the lines making up the seal glowed with a faint blue light. When the seal was complete, Yukio moved to stand, and was surprised to find that his muscles ached from crouching over his work. How much time had passed since he'd started? At his feet, the seal had started to glow with preternatural light.

Yukio stepped in the middle of the circular design and closed his eyes. This is it. It's now or never, he thought. He concentrated to get chi energy intohis forehead; hethen pushed it into his feetspreading it into the ground like roots making a seal glow brighter. For a moment, it felt as if he got inside a whirlpooland he became dizzy, his head spinning round and round as he forced to keep his concentration over the task at hand. Then just as soon as it all started, it finished and he took his time to regain his composure before he opened his eyes. He was not used to this.

Yukio opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a forest but he could see lights in the distance, a village maybe. His plan had worked.

Unfortunately, this was also the end of his plan. He couldn't prepare for anything that happened beyond coming through the veil when he had no idea what he would encounter on the other side. From now on, he would just have to improvise.

He needed to get to someone who could help them fight against the Fire Nation. He knew it wouldn't be that easy.

In his world most people didn't know about the world on the other side of the veil. And since he had never heard of portals being opened between the two worlds before, Yukio guessed he could safely assume that the people on this side didn't know much, either. In other words, he couldn't be strait forward with anyone in this world about where he came from, or how he'd gotten there.

He hoped he wasn't too deep into the forest. Luckily, he didn't have to walk far before coming across a road that would lead to the village. It was still dark here, too, which meant he still had some time to think of a plan to follow before the day broke and he was more likely to run into the people of this world.

He continued walking when he noticed a two story building with large windows and tall wooden doors with carvings on it and two statues guarding it on both sides, the sight of which gave him an idea…

AN: Please R&R