Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourite and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.
(Nearly two years ago)
"Where are the men of your tribe?"
Naruto looked around the tiny village, drinking in the sight of the village that she found herself in. There were so many tents filled with so many women and young children but not once did her eyes caught sight of any men. Well she could always consider Sokka a man but he was twelve year old boy.
"My father and the other men of my tribe left a year ago to help the Earth Kingdom fight against the Fire Nation."
Naruto looked away from the woman humming a tiny tune to her child and stared at Katara. The brown-haired stared out at the tents with such sad eyes. She guessed it must be painful to not have her father with her. Naruto wouldn't know. Her father died on the same day she was born, never really forming a bond with him.
For all she knew, her father probably didn't exist.
She pushed her tongue against her cheeks and tilted her head. "What did the Fire Nation do?"
Katara blinked and pulled up her parka, allowing her to see her eyes. Those blue eyes flashed with uncertainty and confusion. Naruto tilted her head to the side and scratched her neck. Does everyone knows in this part of the world? She frowned and scratched her head.
"The Fire Nation wants to conquer all the other nations and try to force their will onto us." Katara explained softly. "Any nation that doesn't follow their desires will face the same fate as the Air Normads."
"What happened to them?" Naruto asked softly. Sweat began to cling to her skin as blue eyes filled with even more sadness. She doesn't need to ask anymore. Those eyes spoke volumes to her of what could be one of the possibilities to what happened to them.
War was never pretty or so the Hokage would always tell her whenever Naruto wanted to hear stories of his battles. People die. Consequences were made or so he told her with a sad look on his face. Even now she was thirteen and she still doesn't really know what the old man meant. But Naruto guessed it meant bad things happened with choices.
"So who is going to protect the village if all the warriors are gone?" She asked and Katara faltered. Her eyes radiated with uncertainity and hopelessness, the same kind of hopelessness that Naruto used to feel whenever she came back to her apartment with bad scores. No, Katara had a different type of hopelessness.
She just couldn't help but wonder what kind of hopelessness that the girl had.
"I'm going to protect the tribe! Our father left me in charge, Foreginer!" Sokka declared, coming out from his own tent. Naruto blinked and blinked, staring at the lanky boy. He had a scowl on his face and had his arms folded against his chest. This had to be a bad joke. She d only need to give him one good punch and he would be knocked out cold.
And she wasn't the strongest kunoichi in her home.
But Naruto doesn't voice out her opinion. These people gave her a place to stay when she still had no idea of how to go back home. No matter how many times Sakura-chan scolded her for being rude and being inconsiderate (whatever that means), she wasn't going to insult them.
So Naruto looked around the village, trying to think of all the ways that she could help the village. There were so many kids and all these Mums needed to take care of them, so she could fish for them. There was no sign of defenses but that was fine. I can be their protector. She doesn't know why but something told her that she needed to stay here.
"You can't leave until you are sure that these people are protected." A voice whispered in her mind.
Even when Naruto looks back, she doesn't know who that voice was. Had it been the Kyuubi? Or had it been these spirits that the Water Tribe likes to talk about? Or was it someone else? She couldn't be sure but she does know that it had been the reason why she hadn't left the village.
Maybe the bigger reason why she never left was because these people took her in, and Naruto thinks it was only fair that she protects them.
"Did you signal them! I knew Gran-Gran and Katara were stupid to believe that story about you not knowing where your home is! You brought them here!"
Naruto could only stare at Sokka as his nostrils flared and those blue eyes narrowed at her. From behind him, the villagers stared at her with such sad eyes and it only made her bristle at the blame being thrown at her. Do they have such little faith in her? Why would she want to hurt the tribe that took her in? She grinded her teeth and Kanna took a couple of steps forward.
"Naruto was with me when that flare went up," Kanna narrowed her eyes at her grandson. Sokka flushed a bright shade of red and avoided Naruto's eyes, looking terribly ashamed and this made the blonde tilt her head at him.
Should she just rub it in his face? It would be nice to see him get flustered and yell out his apologizes to her. Saying the words I'm sorry would hurt his big ego. But Hinata-chan was always telling her to be the bigger person. You should just accept the apology. She slumped her shoulders.
Why must she be the bigger person and accept the silent apology?
"I would probably point fingers at myself too," Naruto declared, smiling widely and letting off a loud laugh. Her laugh echoed throughout the village. It must have been so loud that she wouldn't even be surprised if that Fire Nation ship could hear her from the ocean.
Naruto rubbed the back of her neck and stared at the villagers. All of the women stood there, arms wrapped protectively around their children as their eyes flashed a silent apology to her. She shrugged, offering them a large, tight smile before allowing her eyes to continue looking for the faces of the other villagers.
Her eyes widened when she noticed two figures missing from the villagers.
"Where are Katara and Aang?" She tilted her head and chewed on her bottom lip, pushing it back and forth. Katara should be with Sokka in front of the tribe since her father was the leader of this tribe or so Sokka claimed whenever she asked why everyone listened to him. Apparently this village had a hierarchy or something when it came to leadership.
A sexist leadership since Sokka believed it would be impossible for a girl to lead because it wasn't her place.
Kanna blinked and jerked her head. The elderly woman began to circle around the villagers, blue eyes scanning through the various villagers while Sokka did the same. Both the grandson and grandmother glanced at each other, their faces growing paler and paler as each second passed.
"Aang is back!"
The single chant of the children was enough to draw everyone's attention away from Naruto and onto Katara and Aang, both of whom were coming from the same direction of the flare. The children glanced at each other, smiling from ear to ear before charging straight to the twelve-year old boy.
It would have been a heartwarming sight if it weren't for the fact that both Kanna and Sokka glared at the approaching kids. Why were they glaring at him? Were they trying to kill him? Because if their eyes could shoot kunais, Naruto had no doubt that both Katara and Aang would be dead by now.
Naruto scratched her scalp and tilted her head to the side. "Um, why are the two of you giving that scary look to Aang and Katara?"
Was there something that she was missing?
"Because if you weren't the one that sent the signal to the Fire Nation, then it has to be Katara and Aang." Sokka growled, clenching his hands into a fist. Both Katara and Aang flinched, not even bothering to deny the truth behind the words coming out of the brown-haired teen's mouth.
Naruto looked at the two kids in front of her. This part of the world was an absolute mystery to her with the way they could manipulate the elements without using chakra, but she knew some things. She knew Katara wouldn't have done this on purpose. That guilty look on her face was enough to tell her this.
This kind of thing was the kind of thing she would do, not Katara. Breaking the rules and having fun was the kind of things she would do. But what could have made Katara break the rules? Just even asking the question to herself, made Naruto knit her eyebrows and stared at her friend.
"Why would you guys do that?" Naruto asked. She ran her hands through her hair and tilted her head to the side. The question sounded stupid even for her but it just didn't make sense. Nothing in the world would convince Katara to break the rules.
She stole a glance at Sokka. The younger boy had his hands clenched into a tight fist and his nostrils flared, looking like a volcano that was just ready to erupt.
"It was an accident." Katara explained. Naruto chewed on her bottom lip, pushing it back and forth as her blue eyes flickered to Sokka. The angry shade of red on Sokka's face slowly changed to purple at those words. I think that might have been the wrong answer to give. She scooted away from Katara and Aang, making her way to stand beside the villagers.
Yeah, she definitely didn't want to be on the firing line when Mount Sokka erupt.
"We were on this ship and there was this booby trap…"
Naruto tuned out the rest of Aang's explanation as she knitted her eyebrows together into one thin line. She doesn't need to pay attention to know what happened next. No matter how much Sakura-chan and Sasuke would like to believe she was an idiot, she wasn't stupid enough to not know what happened.
This was her area of expertise. Sasuke had his ninjutsu and shuriken. Sakura-chan had her books and memorization. But Naruto had her taijutsu and her trap-making skills to boast about. No one in their graduating class could claim that they managed to place a booby-trap on a Chunin without him realizing it.
"You shouldn't have gone on that ship, Katara!" Naruto blinked and jerked her head at Kanna. The elderly woman had her lips pressed into a thin line. "You endangered everyone living in this village!"
"Who cares about them? It is the Avatar that needs to be protected!" The Kyuubi grumbled from inside of her head.
Naruto frowned and scrunched her eyebrows. "Since when did you care about some human? Didn't you say that you are above us or some kind of shit? And where the hell is the Avatar? All I see is a bunch of scared villagers and two sorry teens."
"Why must all of my containers be idiots?" The Kyuubi grumbled and Naruto bristled at the insult thrown at her. "Let me explain it that even your slow brain can understand what is happening. Who do you think is the Avatar? You! It's the boy! You think it makes sense for that ice berg to glow blue or that he can survive that long in the ice berg?"
Blue eyes widened as her mind processed what those words implied.
"You have got to be kidding me!"
Naruto flushed a bright shade of red as several heads swirled at her. A nervous laugh escaped from her lips and the blue-eyed girl scratched the back of her neck before looking at Aang. Was the Kyuubi serious? This little kid was the Avatar. This was the person that this part of the world had been hoping for.
It was kind of disappointing to say the least.
"Do you also believe that he shouldn't be banished?" Sokka demanded with a low growl in his tone. Naruto felt her face growing even redder as more people turned to look at her. If the Kyuubi was right about this kid then he needed to get out of here.
If not for the safety of this nice tribe then for his own safety.
"He should be banished." Naruto straightened her back and stared at Aang. The younger boy slumped his shoulders, lips curled into a tiny frown. Her heart ached for him but then Kanna's stories whispered in her ears, making her sadness fade. His job might not be fair but he ran away from his duty.
"He hasn't done anything wrong, Naruto!" Katara snapped. Her blue eyes stared at her, looking so hurt and confused by her words and Naruto could only stare at her. The younger girl bristled and clenched her hands into a fist. "You are the last person I thought would agree with Sokka and Gran-Gran! We allowed you to stay even when you messed up! You should understand him!"
The Avatar has to keep the balance between the four different nations. That had been Katara's words when Naruto asked about the importance of the Avatar. She doesn't really understand it but Naruto guessed he had a duty to do to the world.
That was something she could understand in some way.
"I don't understand cowards." The words hung in the air and not a single person made a single comment to them. All of the villagers stared at her with their heads tilted to the side, while Aang paled. His brown eyes widened at her words and the blonde stared at him with blank eyes.
The Avatar was loved by so many people and Naruto would have done anything to be in that position. Who cared about the responsibility? Getting that much praise and love was so much better than having people insulting you and treating you like a monster. The responsibility would have been worth it.
"How can you call him a coward!" Katara demanded. "He is only twelve!"
"Are you scared, Scaredy Cat?"
"So what?" Naruto snorted and clasped her hands over her head as her blue eyes locked onto Aang. "I know a coward when I see one, Katara."
Aang flinched and looked away from her eyes. Looking away was a sign of a guilty person or so Hinata would explain to her whenever Naruto asked how she knew when she was lying to her. The blonde inhaled, digging her fingers against the palm of her hand and looked away from the boy.
Right now, she needed to act like a villain and looking at Aang when he hung his head was not helping her case at all.
"Does it matter what Naruto thinks?" Sokka snapped, jolting Naruto out of her thoughts. The boy grinded his teeth together and clenched his hands into a tight fist. "Both Gran-Gran and me agree that he has to leave and nothing you say will change our mind about this."
Katara grinded her teeth together and snarled. "Then I'm banished too!"
Banished huh? Naruto chuckled and looked away from Sokka. Her blue eyes locked eyes on the furious eyes of Katara. If it had been anyone else but her, then maybe they would flinch like a scared little kid. But Naruto only straightened her back and flickered her eyes to Sokka and Kanna.
"Why are you laughing!" Katara demanded, hunching her back. "I'm serious!"
Naruto eyed the girl before darting her eyes at Kanna and Sokka. Looking at them, Naruto fingered the orange parka that Kanna took her time to make it. It is the first time that an adult made me something. She dropped her hands away from the parka, clenching them into a fist as her eyes locked onto Katara.
"You are an idiot."
Katara took a deep breath. "I'm not an idiot, Naruto!"
"Old Man, why don't I have a Mummy and Daddy like the other kids in my class?" The words rang inside her ear and Naruto could only stare at the girl with her jaws clenched together. Yeah, she couldn't understand what it was like to be the only bender. I don't want to understand. She could feel her temper rising more and more as hazy memories flashed through her eyes.
"Keep telling yourself that." Naruto declared, clicking her heels together and straightening her back. She curled her lips into a scowl and swirled her head at Katara. "Do you even hear yourself? You are going to leave your grandmother and brother for some boy! If you asked me, that is just pathetic."
She walked away, not bothering to hear the words of Kanna or the other villagers. The loud winds muffled their voices and the blonde didn't even bother to turn around to look at them. There was no reason for her to do this. Nothing they could say or do would make her take her words back.
Beside, Naruto had to prepare herself with protecting this village.
"You should go back to the tent."
Naruto stood right on top of the walls overlooking the village as Sokka pulled himself on top of the tower. It had been over two hours since the signal went up and as each second passed, the blue skies hanging over them was beginning to darken. Was a storm coming? Or was this from the smoke of the Fire Nation ship? Naruto wasn't certain.
She tightened her Hitai-ate and flickered her eyes to Sokka. "Why?"
"Because a girl can't fight." Sokka declared, looking at her like she was an idiot. Naruto felt her eyebrows twitched and she clenched her jaws. If there was one thing she hated about this world, it was the way they were so sexist. Konoha faced it too. But the men would never claim a girl couldn't fight, not when there were kunoichis around.
Did all the other nations have the same belief as Sokka? There was no way for her to know.
She took in a deep breath, ribs stretching, and lowered the hood of her parka. The cold winds caressed her cheeks, nipping her bones and her teeth began to chatter. No, the cold shouldn't defeat her. Taking another deep breath, Naruto turned to look at Sokka and let out a boisterous laugh.
"Why are you laughing?" Sokka demanded.
Naruto blinked. "Have you seen yourself? Are you planning to make the soldiers fall in love with you through your makeup skills? Or do you plan to make them laugh?"
"It's warpaint! It is supposed to scare them." Sokka grumbled, looking everywhere but her eyes.
"They are going to be so scared that they will pee in their pants when they see you." Naruto muttered, shaking her head. She let out another laugh and tried to stop herself from smiling when Sokka glared at her. There was no way the soldiers were going to be terrified of a lanky 15-year-old boy in makeup.
Honestly, it looked more like her friend went to Kanna's drawers, pulled out her makeup kit and tried it on himself. The result just wasn't pretty or scary in her opinion.
Her laughter faded when the ground below began to tremble. Naruto shut her eyes as the ice cracked, splitting into half as the stream from the Fire Nation ship screeched, signaling that the Fire Nation was coming to them. A huge shadow loomed over them and the blonde darted her eyes at Sokka.
Her friend froze at the sight of the shadow and Naruto inhaled. Dimly she could hear Katara yelling at her and Sokka to move out of the way, but her eyes were still fixated on Sokka. He is terrified. That was the only thing Naruto could think of and without a second thought, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and jumped down from the walls.
Just in time. Naruto dropped Sokka on the ground as the large ship pierced through the walls surrounding the village. The walls crumbled into tiny pieces and the snow tumbled to the ground. The ship stopped moving and Naruto reached into the pocket of her pants, where her kunai sat.
The ship stopped shrieking and it wasn't long before the ship bowsprit opened. Naruto straightened her back while the villagers huddled together. She doesn't need to look at them to know they were scared. She could feel their fear from all where she stood and Naruto turned her head around.
"I will protect you guys!" Naruto declared, flashing them a large smile. Kanna took a step forward, blue eyes widening while Katara opened her mouth. Whatever Katara wanted to say, it had to wait because her ears picked up the sound of soldiers marching straight to them.
Several soldiers came out from the door, their shoulders straights and their masked faces never once looked at them. I guess they aren't the leader. The leader always had to look different from the foot soldiers or so Naruto guessed. She chewed on her bottom lip as a boy, probably not that much older than her, marched down the bowsprit.
So much anger. That was another thing that stood out to Naruto about the boy, alongside the burnt mark on his face. Did he get in battle? It would be kind of cool. But the one thing that really got her attention was his golden eyes. She had never seen eyes like his before. She shook her head and grinded her teeth together. Not the time for her to think about looks.
She had people to protect.
"Where are you hiding him!" The leader demanded. His golden eyes narrowed at them and the villagers glanced at each other before glancing at her. Sokka tightened his grip on the spear. Protect everyone even the sexist jerk. Naruto took another deep breath, grabbed the younger boy by the collar and kicked him towards his sister and grandmother.
"Naruto—"
"You are a weakling." Naruto explained, rolling her eyes at Sokka. She turned her head back to the leader and tilted her head to the side. "Are you looking for a man? Because if you are, then you can see we have no men here…unless you consider Sokka a man. In that case, what do you want with a weak guy like Sokka?"
The leader's eyebrows twitched and his nostrils flared. "I want to know where is the Avatar."
Naruto tilted her head to the side and gave him a smile. "No idea."
It wasn't a lie since she didn't know where Aang was. For all she knew, he might be flying to his home or heading straight to the Earth Kingdom.
"I don't believe you! I know you people are hiding him." He snarled.
"It's your loss." Naruto shrugged and clasped her hands over her head. "I would offer for you to check the tents but why bother? You are going to be wasting your time if you checked the tents, so you should leave before I beat the living shit out of you."
The golden-eyed boy stared at her with a scowl playing on his lips. His eyes screamed of arrogance as if he believed he could beat her in a fight and that made Naruto bristled. She knew what made him believe she was weaker than him. She was shorter than him. She looked so fragile that she needed only one good punch to hurt her.
But he was stupid if he based his beliefs on her looks.
Flames erupted from the leader's hand, dancing above her head and getting dangerously close to the heads of one of the villagers. Bright blue eyes widened as the villagers behind her screamed and cried. Asshole. Blood rushed to her ears and Naruto grinded her teeth together.
"You shouldn't have done that." Naruto whispered, blue eyes darkening. She grinded her teeth together, curled her hands into a fist and hurled a punch against the boy's face. She could hear his bones cracked as her fist smashed against his face. Silence reined throughout the village as the golden-eyed boy was sent flying a couple of feet away from them.
Everyone gazed at her and the blonde raised her hands. "I warned him and he didn't follow it."
Naruto reached for her pocket as the soldiers glanced at each other. Her finger nipped something sharp and Naruto pulled out the weapon from her pocket before scanning the area. There were six other soldiers. If they were anything like the leader then it should be easy for her to beat them.
With her speed, it should be easy for her to give them quick deaths.
"You have two options," Naruto declared, holding out her kunai as her eyes locked onto the leader of the ship. The boy clutched his face, golden eyes narrowing at her like he couldn't believe she dared to punch him, and pushed himself up from the ground. "Either you leave this place with your heads intact or I kill you."
The young man eyed her and stared at his soldiers. "You wouldn't do it."
"Do you really want to try me?" Naruto asked, giving him a smile as she tossed the kunai up and down. It was probably dangerous to try and juggle a kunai but if it would get the message across, who cares right? Well Kakashi-sensei would but he wasn't here to scold her. "I can kill every single one of your soldiers with my eyes closed."
The leader did not smile or snort at her words. If anything his golden eyes flashed with uncertainty and fear like he was almost concern for the well-being of his soldiers. Naruto paused, grabbing her kunai by the hilt. Throughout her time here, Sokka and Katara kept talking about how the people of the Fire Nation was bad.
But could they be bad if they care about their friends and teammates? Because only really bad people wouldn't care about the lives of the people under their case. The leader couldn't be that bad.
"I will leave but with only one condition." The boy declared.
He does realize what is happening right? Naruto lowered her kunai as the villagers began to whisper to each other. She had the power here, not him. If she was a proper kunoichi then she wouldn't have to hear what he had to say. But he piped her curiosity and like a cat, Naruto wanted to know what he had to say.
"What is the condition?" Naruto asked, tilting her head to the side.
The boy eyed the villagers and flickered his eyes at her. "You become my sparring partner."
"And why would I agree to that?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. For a brief moment, no one said anything. No one moved. The only thing that gave any hint to what the boy was thinking was the way he knitted his eyebrow together. He darted his eyes to the soldiers, took a deep breath and scowled.
"I will have this tribe under my protection." He offered her.
It sounded too good to be true.
"And how do I know you will keep to your offer?" Naruto asked. From the corner of her eye, Naruto could see the villagers trembling and looking at her with wide eyes. She pressed her lips into a thin line. They might be terrified of the Fire Nation but she wasn't scared of them. Nothing could be more scarier than fighting Orochimaru if you asked her.
The leader scowled. "I gain nothing if I don't keep to my offer."
Naruto pressed her lips into a thin line and flickered her eyes to the villagers. They shook their heads at her, almost pleading for her not to go with him but it was her choice to make. She darted her eyes to the cliff, channeling her chakra to her eyes to have one last final look of the cliff that she used to overlook.
Her lips parted at the sight of Aang rushing towards them, hands opening some kind of weird tool, and Naruto took another deep breath.
She had to take a leap of faith and protect the village alongside Aang.
"You got yourself a deal."
If there was only one benefit from this deal, she was going to be free from the cold.
A/N:- For the people that are curious to know why Naruto would help Zuko, I hope that this chapter explained what made her decide to help him. I hope that you like the interactions between the characters.
-Please do let me know if there are any errors or if you find the characters too out-of-character.
STLHero.