Taro stared at the boy in front of him with a confused and baffled expression upon his face. Aang as the boy called himself said that he was the 'Avatar'. Taro didn't know if that was some sort of nickname he gave himself or someone in a village possibly gave it to him or what, but the only thing that he knew was that Aang's title/nickname was stupid.
"So you're the Avatar? What does that even mean?" Taro asked.
Aang looked at him with his own baffled expression. "You mean you've never heard of the Avatar?"
Taro shook his head. "There is no one in the Hidden Leaf Village with that stupid title or any other nation that I know of."
Aang seemed to get angry with Taro when he called his title stupid and immediately put a scowl upon his face. "Hey! My title is not stupid! The Avatar is the master of all the elements and what's the Hidden Leaf Village?"
Taro snorted. This kid was calling himself the 'Master of all the Elements'? He couldn't even give Kakashi-sensei a run for his money. Heck, this so called 'Avatar' couldn't even beat Naruto. Taro's expression changed from one of amusement to one of shock as the kid also said he didn't know that the Hidden Leaf was.
"First of all, there's no way your the master of all the elements. There are shinobi all over the world that can use multiple elements." Taro started with a shake of his head. "And what do you mean what's the Hidden Leaf Village? Aren't I in the Hidden Leaf Village in the Land of Fire?"
Taro noticed Aang's expression changed from one of confusion and curiosity to one of fear and shock. He noticed Aang's body tensed up as well in case he was going to attack him. Taro didn't understand why Aang was so scared of the Hidden Leaf, they were a peaceful village...well then they wanted to be anyways.
"You're from the Fire Nation?!" Aang accused. The Avatar was very confused at the moment. One minute, this boy was talking about how he was from a village hidden in leaves and now says that he's from the Fire Nation?
"No one calls the Land of Fire, the Fire Nation!" Taro yelled exasperatedly. He calmed himself down before speaking again. "If I'm not in the Hidden Leaf, then where am I?"
"You're in the Western Air Temple." Aang explained, but not relenting his tense stance. "It's not that far away from the Fire Nation. Katara and Toph said that you appeared in the fountain out of nowhere and attacked Toph when she tried to touch you."
Taro's eyebrows rose up when he mentioned those two names and attacking someone. "I don't remember attacking anyone...other than Sasuke of course. I never even heard of anyone named Katara or Toph"
"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know who this Katara or Toph are and I definitely didn't attack anyone." Taro replied back. Aang stared into Taro's eyes, searching for any sign that the boy was lying. Aang had seen the damage himself when Sokka and Zuko came to get him from the top of the mountain. He saw how Toph's wrist was all messed up before Katara healed her.
"Perhaps he doesn't remember what happened." Aang mused. Turning back to look into Taro's eyes, remembering something that Katara had told him. "His eyes! They're not red, but how? Katara said he had red eyes and his hair was all spiked up as well. His hair is spiky, but not the way she described it."
After staring at Taro's eyes for what seemed like an eternity, Aang finally relented his tense stance and turned his back towards Taro. "Come with me."
Taro followed the so called 'Avatar'. The boy opened up the door and the two of them walked down a hallway. Taro looked around and noticed strange paintings depicting large, white animals with two horns and an arrow on their heads, similarly to that of the boy. He also noticed people wearing the same type of clothing Aang was wearing as well.
"Is this boy some sort of Jinchuriki?" Taro thought to himself. It would explain why Aang had an arrow on his head similar to that of the white beast he saw on the painting, sort of like how Taro himself has whiskers that are the exact same like the Kyubi's. Shaking these thoughts out of his head, Aang led Taro out into an open area. It was there that Taro saw a lot of unfamiliar faces once again.
On the far right, there was a boy in some type of a makeshift wheelchair. To that boy's right was a very big boy who remined Taro of Choji. To the big boy's left was a boy with a strange pony tail that made him look like he was Shikamaru's twin. To his left, was a girl wearing an all blue dress and had strange loopies in her hair. Behind her, was a short little girl who Taro could instantly tell was blind due to her milky eyes and finally to that girl's right was a black-haired, pale skin boy with a scar on his face. Taro immediately scowled when his eyes landed upon that boy as he reminded him to much of Sasuke.
"Hey everyone!" Aang waved his hands to get there attention.
"Aang! Why did you bring him out here." The boy with the pony-tailed asked, pointing at Taro
"Because Sokka, he says that he doesn't remember attacking Toph or Katara. I wanted Toph to see if she could tell if he was telling the truth." Aang said to the boy now known as Sokka.
"I am telling the truth!" Taro interjects. "I don't even know where this place is!"
"You're lying!" The girl in the blue dress yelled. "You attacked Toph and me! You broke her wrist!"
"Katara..." Aang moaned.
"Actually Princess, he's not lying." Everyone turned wide eyed towards Toph.
"T-Toph...how is he not lying! We both saw him do it!" Katara sputtered.
Toph shrugged her shoulders and put her hands behind her head. "I don't know Sugar Queen, but some how, he's telling the truth. He did break my wrist, but for some reason, his heart says he's telling the truth."
"THANK YOU!"
Katara whirled around towards Taro in anger. "It doesn't matter whether your telling the truth or not! I saw you use lightning, you're a firebender!"
Taro adorned a confused expression across his face. "A firebender? What even is that?!"
"Don't play dumb with me!"
"I'm not! I don't know what a firebender is!"
"He's telling the truth as well." Toph interjected.
"Toph!" Katara screeched. "Stop defending him!"
As the two girls began to get into a heated argument, Taro couldn't help but let out a tiresome sigh and annoyed groan. Those two girls reminding him so much of Naruto and Sasuke when it comes to arguing over anything. "I don't have the patience or time for this." Taro said to himself.
"Why are you defending him when he's the one who hurt you! He's a firebender! Just like Zuko!" Katara got right up into Toph's face and yelled.
"Since when did this become about me!?" Zuko yelled from his brooding spot. He wanted to stay out of this little confrontation with the so called 'firebender', but Katara just had to bring his name up into this conversation.
"Not every firebender is bad Sugar Queen! Zuko's changed!" Toph yelled back.
Katara turned towards Zuko and glared. "Everything is about you!"
"ENOUGH!"
SNNNNK
SNNNNK
Katara and Toph were suddenly grabbed by two unknown figures and had something sharp and metallic pointed at their throats. The two turned around to see or in Toph's case 'sense', the unknown boy standing over them. He was glaring harshly at them and had some type of knife in his hand.
Sokka and the others were absolutely stunned at seeing the same person twice, but they became even more shocked when they looked over and saw that the unknown boy was still standing there, with his fingers in a cross formation. Katara and Toph were also stunned as well, especially Toph as she didn't even sense the boy coming up behind her until he had that knife pointed directly at her.
"...How are there two of you?!" Aang asked in awe.
Taro ignored the Avatar and simply stared at the two female benders before responding. "In the Hidden Leaf Village and other nations, there are people who are called Shinobi, who utilize the chakra within their bodies and can perform Jutsu or techinques. This is one of those jutsu, it's called the Shadow Clone Jutsu."
"There is no such place called the Hidden Leaf Village here!" Sokka yelled. "Also, let go of my sister!" He took his boomerang from his back and got into his stance, getting ready to throw it at the unknown boy if necessary.
Taro stared at Sokka with an emotionless face before calling off the two clones. They let Katara and Toph go and stared at their 'boss'
"I want the two of you to go find the nearest town of village and get me any information you have on this world and a map." The two clones nodded and dashed out of the room at ridiculous speeds. Taro then turned his attention towards Aang. "I hope you can explain to me where I am in the meantime 'Avatar'?"
Aang nodded his head and began to explain.
Western Air Temple: One Hour Later
It has been one hour since Taro sent his two clones out to explore and find any information that they could. During that hour, Aang and his group of friends started to explain where he was and what was happening. According to the Avatar, there has been a war going on for the past one hundred years by the so called Fire Nation and their firebenders. The one who started this war was the leader of the Fire Nation at that time: Fire Lord Sozin. The war has since continued from his son Azulon and now to Azulon's son and the current Fire Lord: Ozai. It was also during the reign of Sozin that the Fire Lord wiped out Aang's whole entire culture and nation known as the Air Nomads so that Sozin could kill the Avatar and make sure that the war continued without any mishaps.
He also learned that Aang being the so called 'Master of all the Elements' wasn't so farfetched. Katara stated that only the Avatar could bend the elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Air and that only the Avatar could defeat the Fire Lord. So far, Aang is only able to bend Water, Air, and Earth; but the boy now has a firebending teacher in the knock-off Sasuke known as Zuko who turns out to be the current Fire Lord's son. Taro also learned the that most of members of the group were able to bend. Zuko, as stated previously is the firebender, Katara is a master waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe, Toph is an earthbender and Aang is well the Avatar.
Then the gang decided to ask Taro questions. He didn't really give them too many details other than the fact that he's a shinobi, he's thirteen, his name and that's about it. He especially didn't want to go into details about how he could 'bend' multiple elements as they would say as Taro didn't fully trust this group even though there letting him stay here. He did tell them that he's from another world, which greatly shocked everyone, especially Sokka and Aang. Sokka even asked him if Taro's hometown is where his space sword was form, but Taro quickly said no. Taro was definitely not in the happiest mood as he had no idea if there was anyway for him to get back home.
"I need to find a way to get back to my world! I gotta get back to Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, Sakura, my brother..." Taro trailed off at the thought of his step brother. He hadn't seen the boy since he ended up in Konoha injured. He doesn't even know if his brother is still alive or not.
"Aye boss, we're back!" Taro was taken out of his thoughts by the sudden shout of one of his clones.
"Tell me what you have." Taro asked.
Clone 1 rolled out a gigantic map that showed four separated areas, all highlighted in different colors. "So according to this map, we're over here near the Fire Nation or to be precise, the north of it." He pointed over at the medium red spot of land all over the left side of the map. "This large brown area is called the Earth Kingdom." The second clone pointed at the large spot. "And these small blue areas are the Northern and Southern Water Tribe." Both of the clones pointed at the respective tribes.
"Wow...we really aren't anywhere near home are we boss?" The first clone asked. Taro let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head no. "What did you find out about bending?"
The second clone took out a book labeled 'Bending Arts' and handed it to Taro. According to the book, bending is dependent on the energy or chi within a human body. It's almost similar to chakra in a way, but not exactly. The chi within someone's body must flow throughout in order to manipulate a specific element, but a person is able to bend when they extend the influence of their chi beyond the body to interact with the environment.
"Bending is a really interesting art, wouldn't you agree boss?" The second clone asked.
"It is." Taro nodded. "It does have some similarities to chakra, but I still believe our techniques are much more powerful than their bending." Even the simplest jutsu could be stronger than bending, especially since so far, it seems the benders of this world don't have the ability to conjure the other elements like Ice, Wood etc.
"So what now boss? Do we ask them to help us find a way back home?" Clone 1 asked.
Taro had thought about asking Aang and his friends for help, but that was before he found out that they are fighting a war that's been around for a hundred years. They needed to focus on finishing this war once and for all and not trying to get a random shinobi back home to another world, heck Taro wasn't even sure that they even knew about other dimensions or other worlds.
"No." Taro shook his head. "We don't ask them for help. They have a war they need to stop. We'll find our own way home."
The two other clones looked at each other before nodding and disappearing in a whiff of smoke, all the knowledge they obtained coming back to Taro. The Genin stared out of the window in the room he was in before letting out a sigh and walking out. Walking down the hallway, Taro turned towards the open area he was at earlier and to his surprise, Aang was waiting there and staring right at him.
Taro sighed. "What are you doing Aang?"
The Avatar didn't say anything, just simply stared at the shinobi, much to Taro's annoyance.
"Aang. Is there something you want to tell me?" Taro asked.
"Where are you going?" Aang finally asked.
The young Genin shrugged. "Somewhere. Anywhere that leads me to finding a way home."
"And you didn't think to stay and ask us to help you?"
"I'm sorry, but aren't you in the middle of a war?" Taro asked sarcastically. "Aang, you can't help me find a way home. This is something I have to do on my own. (Plus if a certain dumb fox decides to go on a rampage, none of you will get hurt)."
"Look Taro, we might be in the middle of a war, but that doesn't mean we can't still help you." Aang walked over and put his hand on Taro's shoulder. "Give us a chance. We can help you find a way home." Aang smiled.
"I'm guessing you want something in return?" Taro asked expectedly. Even he knows that asking someone of something of this magnitude was going to have to give something in return.
Aang sighed. "Yeah I do. As the Avatar, it is my duty to protect this world and defeat Fire Lord Ozai in order to bring balance, but there is a very big chance that I fail; especially if I can't access the Avatar State."
"Avatar State?"
Aang shook his head, telling him to not worry about it, but Taro was going to ask someone else about that later. "If I can't defeat the Fire Lord, then I want you to defeat him. You're the only one who can defeat him if I lose."
Taro looked at Aang like he had grown nine tails on his ass, but there was something that was bugging him. Aang kept on saying 'defeat' not 'kill'. Taro didn't have the opportunity to read up on the Air Nomads and their culture, but he had a feeling that they were probably pacifist and treated everything like it deserved a second chance.
"This boy is in for a rude awakening if he thinks that he can save the world by being nice" Taro thought with a shake of his head. Looking back at Aang, Taro made his decision.
"Alright Avatar, you've got yourself a deal." Taro held out his hand for Aang to shake, which he gladly did. Once they ended their handshake, Aang guided him back to the room he had first awoken in and left him in there while he informed the rest of his friends. Taro was just about to go and take a nap, but he sensed that someone was standing at the doorway and was watching him.
"If you have something to say, you better say it now." Taro said with a hint of annoyance in his tone. He turned around to see Katara looking at him with a slight glare, but it didn't faze the shinobi at all.
"I don't know what you truly are, but I do know this. You're dangerous. Firebender or not and if you as so much step out of line and try to hurt any of us, especially Aang; I'll make you regret it." Katara spat.
Taro stared at the Water Tribe girl with an amused expression before calming walking towards her. "If you wanna make a threat at someone...try to actually look intimidating." Taro conjured the Chidori in his right hand and hovered it right next to Katara before dispelling it. He then turned around and slammed the door, right in her face.
"What in the hell have I gotten myself into." Taro sighed for the umpteenth time today.