A/N: Alright ladies and gentlmen, good news and bad news. Good news first. My surgeries are over. Bad news: Now I have to WORK to pay for everything. Still, I'm feeling a bit better now. Really. Kinda. Sorta. I'm hanging tough though, having just come out of the woods...only to work my ass off as a bloody dishwasher! Not fun! Not fun at alll! UUUUUGH! I'm woking almost daily and I feel like crap, as to that effect. But nevertheless, despite this pesky little hiccup-I wanted to get word out any way I could, and since for some strange reason the site is being buggy, I wasnt able to work on this anywhere near as much as I would've liked. Still...so many reviews!

I love you guys so much! *Cries*

Now, this chapter might be a bit confusing consider I haven't updated in awhile. With good reason! My job has been beating the living hell out of my as of late! This was REALLY had to write with being tired from work; exhausting, actually. But I'm proud of it, and I hope you enjoy it as I finally get some rest...

Well...here ya go! =D Sorry if its short! But hey, at least I'm back! And again, I remind you that some changes have been made to this story pertaining to the age of some characters, remember!

"Am I the only sane one here?!"

~?

Oath of Flame

Never again!

There is a REASON I don't enjoy traveling to the Spirit World; as it turns out, I'm not entirely welcome there. I've even gotten trapped in spirit form once or twice before. Not a pleasant thing. I don't know why it seems to happen, only that it does. Perhaps I've upset the natural balance, the order, somehow by being reborn so many times. Perhaps the spirits regard me as an abomination for my inability to truly stay dead. Perhaps I'm just not a very sociable person. It could be any number of things.

Who knows?

Anywho, I managed to get the boys back-in record time, too!-and Aang managed to calm Heibai down. One Mokuton jutsu later and the woods were as good as new! This time with no crazy fire lady to burn them down around my ears, thank you very much. Which brings me to this next entry in my diary.

Azula.

Not quite sure what to do with her. But I just...couldn't leave her alone. She's got nothing now, ya know? I'm really bringing her with us on a whim; with only her word that she won't betray us at the first opportunity. I think it would be remiss of me to ignore her, though. I too, know what it is like to have lost everything. But as fate would have it, we're not done yet. Haru might have decided to stay here and help the villagers protect there new forest, but an Avatar's work is never done.

Apparently one of Aang's past lives-ugh!-needs him to reach a temple before the Solstice. Tomorrow. Not much of a problem when you can fly, right?

Wrong.

Did I mention this temple was in the Fire Nation? No? Because it its. That's right.

The Fire Nation. The one who wants us dead. Yeah. That one.

Man, this had better not come back to bite me in the ass...

"Whatcha reading?"

"Eeep!"

Azula gave a very unlady-like squeak as Naruto's head popped up over her shoulder and took up residence there, an arm curling around her waist, to draw her close. She froze, transfixed as his body pressed up against hers, those rimmed blue eyes holding her, rooting her in place. She almost didn't notice it when he calmly reached arounds her with the other hand and plucked his diary from her grasp. She didn't even have the gall to resist, not with the business end of a kunai sticking threateningly between her ribs. It was like being a powerless child all over again, forced to obey as he stood over her in the moonlight.

Her only solace was that the others had since fallen asleep; leaving her to suffer this indignity alone. Well, not entirely alone...

"Its not nice to steal, Azula." he purred, his lips brushing the outer lobe of her ear in passing. "I just might have to punish you for this...

Was it wrong for her to be more aroused than she had ever been around him? The spike of fear and threat of pain had had her readying a fireball, but only for the first fraction of a second. It gradually passed when that bemused voice ingrained in her heart started to laugh, his mirth flowing like dark velvet through her ears, instantly tuning her in to the identity of her 'attacker'...and sending her fantasies into hyperdrive. Pain, by itself was not something she feared, it was the pain of humiliation so readily inflicted by the bedeviled blond that sent her heart-rate skyrocketing.

Once again, her visage outshone Sozen's comet.

"I...you...that is...

"And now that I've stolen this back," he gave the book a wag before returning it to his pocket, "I think its time we set some ground rules, you and I. You may be traveling with us now, but I need to know that you won't strike at me the moment I turn my back. Or Aang's, for that matter."

She paled at that insinuation. "I said I wouldn't!"

"You may say that to me now," Naruto shot back with a stern scowl, his sapphire eyes searching her saffron scathingly. "But, what if things were different? What if your father offered you Amnesty? What if he suddenly decides to, say welcome you back with open arms?" When she opened her mouth to rebuke the likelihoods of such a thing, he cut her off with an angry grunt. "And all you had to do was put a dagger in my back while I was asleep? Are you saying you wouldn't even consider it?"

Azula tried to turn her head away but Naruto's hand was suddenly there forcing her gaze back to him. "Don't try and lie to me. You would be tempted. And I wouldn't blame you. Power can be a seductive lure; my best friend once fell to it before my very eyes. No, before we go any further, I'm going to have you take the Oath."

"Oath?" Something deep within the princess quailed at that word. She didn't like the sound of it...

"Its something a Kage took in service to his or her Feudal Lord, in Konoha, and beyond" his smile was genial, but the words within hinted at something more. "Ah. You look confused, my dear. Have I said something to upset you?"

Azula gapwed at him there, blinking rapidly. At length, she smoothed the wrinkles in her gown and composed herself enough to speak. "I've never heard of Konoha." she said.

"I'd be surprised if you had." Naruto sounded a thousand years older just then, wiser beyond the teenage shell with whom she spoke. "No," he continued with a shake of the head, "Konoha doesn't exist in any of these four nations that you call home. Nor, for that matter, do I hail from any of them in these parts. To be precise," At her puzzled frown he continued, "I come from a land beyond the horizon."

"That's not possible. There is no land beyond our own. You make it sound as if there's an entire continent! Absurd!" the reply was out of her mouth and into the night, before she could think to take it back. But instead of an angry rebuke, she only received a sly smile. Naruto reached forward, flicking her on the forehead.

"Ow!"

"Is that what they teach youngin's these days?" he reprimanded her light. "Tell me then, if I'm not from beyond the sea, then where do you think I'm from? I'm too resltess to be from the Water Tribe and as you can see, I don't exactly share the fashion sense of their people. I can't be from the Air Nomads; Aang's the last of them. I could be from the Earth Kingdoms given my complexion, but what would I be doing this far West? And I'm certainly not from the Fire Nation as you can already see. If I was, I'd have you bent over my knee for addressing me like that."

It was a fair sight to watch her cheeks color like that, he thought. Well worth revealing his past, at any rate.

"I...

"I forget you're not familiar with my country." Naruto chuckled and for a moment, just a moment, his eyes lit with warmth. Then then were cold again, like the stones at their feet. "Let me give you a brief explantion, of my world, just to whet your appetite. A Feudal Lord rules a country. But what ruler can control his kingdom without an army? The Shinobi were that army, in a sense. Oh, the Feudal Lord may have had his Samuraii but it was we who did the dirty work those "honourable" warriors wouldn't dare sully their hands with. Seduction. Assasination. Poisoning. Bombings." His tone rose with each word until they were almost thick with emotions, his eyes turning inward and distant as he pressed on. It as if he were there, she thought, recalling the days of a distant summer-

Azula continued to listen, a small part of her rapidly becoming enraptured by the tale. She'd never heard of other lands on the horizon; now to actually be told of them! And still, Naruto continued:

"We struck from the shadows, bringing death to our lord's enemies for whatever we were called. At that time, the highest rank a Shinobi could attane was that of Kage, or "Shadow" the leader of the village in which the ninja of his dominion dwelt. Naturally, the Kage also served the Damiyo, for without their funding, the village and all those who inhabited it would essentially die without it.

"In the beginning of the Shinobi era, to ensure their loyalty to one another, and I won't bore you with their specifics, an Oath was enacted; a sacred ritual that was nothing of sort binding to both parties involved. It was discontinued by my time and I only learned of it some years ago before my...situation." he summed up his tale with a smile. "I can think of of nothing better to ensure we don't kill one another."

Azula scowled, a touch of her old haughtiness creeping back into her expression.

"And I should agree to this, why...?"

"Because,"

Something in his sight hardened then, those cobalt blue eyes becoming more akin to the violent violet she so feared. Just looking at those eyes reminded her of how he'd played pinball with her body in the air; battting her back and forth as though she were no more than a child's ball. But it was what he said next, those chilling words, that truely dropped her heart into the pit of her stomach.

"Because," he continued, "If you refuse to take the oath, I'll have to kill you. Right here. Right now. Banished or not, I can't risk you coming after me and my charges again. So choose. Will you live, and swear yourself to my service to make a better person of yourself? Or will you die, another body heaped on my already over-burdened conscience? The choice is yours." He folded both arms before his broad chest, all traces of humour devoid from the icy blue pools that were his eyes." Now, choose."

The light rains had all but completely stopped, and they were presented with the infinite brilliance of the full moon; because the clouds themselves were fleeing as though they'd been swept aside by the hand of a giant. Azula wanted to utter a a string of long and lengthy lamentations as he glared toward the inert shinobi who'd supposedly triggered it. She had the feeling he was trying to be overly dramatic; that, or nature itself really did fear him...

Instead she stood there, riveted. Rooted to the spot. Bound. Unable to move. Naruto would do it, she realized. He had no compunctions about killling. If she'd any doubt about his abilities, then their fight had put those to rest. Along with her pride. She would be the first to admit, that notion had been a touch too tempting when he'd enligthened her to it. Their idea of returning home to the life of royalty that she'd always known might not be so bad in lieu of one on the run. But a thorn of anger pricked her and held her back.

Father had discarded her.

Yes, he might welcome her back, but if he had already cast her out once, who was to say he wouldn't do it again the moment she displeased him? No. She catered to no one's whims. Except maybe-maybe!-those of the enigmatic blond standing before her. From what she'd seen of his abilities thus far, he could probably obliterate most skilled benders-Ozai included-with a single swing of his hand. And yet he didn't. He was biding all his time, holding back for something. Waiting.

But for what?

Whatever it was, she was certain that she wanted to be by his side to see it happen. Just as she was certain his enemies would burn when all was said and done. And if the Fire Lord were to die during the conflict, then surely someone would need to step in and replace him. Not that dolt Zu-Zu of course. And certainly not their fuddy-duddy of an uncle Iroh. Yes, it certainly helped she was already inclined towards taking vengeance on her father, but really, what other choice did she have? The only way she could see any of those things through was if she lived.

Life.

"I'll take the former, thank you." she said at last. she could only

"Very good." Before she could think to stop him, he had a knife in his hand. Even as she recoiled, thinking it a betrayal, he slashed down on his arm, drawing blood in a spurt of red. Despite their dislike for one another, Azula actually gasped when he slit his wrist. Was he insane?! Did he want to die? She stared agape, hopelessly baffled. And yet he seemed so at ease, calm and unperturbed despite the fact his lifeblood was essentially draining away right before their very eyes.

"Stop balking." he chided angrily, snapping her out of her daze, "And give me your arm." Again he moved faster than Azula could hope to think. Warm fingers wrapping around her wrist taking hold of her small arm and tugging it toward him. She hissed when he made a small incision of his own, only to flush horrribly as he laid his lips against it and licked. What sorcery was this?! An ecstatic tingle raced up her back, threads of warmth gathering and spooling in a very uncomfortable place she'd rather not think about. Naruto wasn't a vampire, this was just some obscene ritual of his to ensure they didn't kill each other and - ohmydeargodwhydoesitfeel sogood...

"Your turn."

"Wha?"

Shamefaced, she realized Naruto had stopped, he was now in the process of cleaning his lips. "I said its your turn." he held out his arm to her. "Hurry before the wound closes."

"A-Alright...:

Blushing, she did as she was asked. The feeling that shot through her was like one of molten lava; just a taste, but one enough to warm her veins anew. No other word could describe it. Instead of the coppery taste she had since come to associate with her own blood his tasted...different somehow. Strong. Powerful. Light, and airy, yet incredibly stern as well. Feelings unknown welled up within her as she held her lips to the injury, the tiniest of euphoria filling her.

"My blood is your blood. My arm, is thine arm. My blade, your blade. My flame, your flame." Naruto recited. A faint numbness came over her as he spoke the words. "This...is the Oath of our Pact. "We will not harm one another so long as we live, will not draw blood unto the pain of death. This is our pact." And then he was done, stripping a portion of his sleeve away to bind her cut.

"That was...oddly specific." she pulled away, cringing slightly when he pulled the fabric taut.

"Hey, I don't choose the words." Naruto shrugged, cleaning their wounds. "You should be lucky I even knew of this ritual. If I didn't, I would've dumped your body in a ditch the moment we switched back." The way he said it, so nonchalantly, was enough to send fingers of ice brushing down her spine. She had the distinct feeling she didn't known anything about this young man that he didn't want her to know; and to be honest, that frightened her. Terribly so. And yet in the same vein it also attracted her. Uzumaki Naruto. Such a conundrum...

"And now that we've finished that," he leaned in, smirking. Her heart quickened. "I can...

"You can...?" she gasped, breathless.

"I can finally tell you about the tattoo I gave you." Just like that he leaned away, smirking at having gotten her so hot and bothered.

"Tattoo...?"

"Yup. Enjoy!"

Azula paled, whipping around as the blond vanished in a swirl of leaves. All that was left was...a mirror? Dreading what she might find, the ex-princess picked it up and tilted it, lifting the hem of her gown as she did so, determined to see what he had wrough. That was when she finally caught sight of Naruto's "tattoo" he'd left during his stay in her body. There, on her left ass cheek, carved by fire...a word.

Juicy.

"BY AGNI I WILL BURN YOU!"

Ah, she's just so easy to mess with!

Ended up catching up on some sleep after that. Put a seal on my diary, just in case. It would've been...problematic if she'd learned that I impersonated her bfore the Oath. REALLY glad she didn't learn that. I've enough problems without little miss attitude trying to burn a hole in the seat of my pants. I get the feeling there'll be more than enough of that once we reach this Fire temple thingy. Really-I find the idea of having former lives fine and all, but what the point of having so many if you can't just commune with them on the spot?

Seriously! I've lived more than my fair share and I remember all of them just fine! The last thing I need is to be dragged to some god-forsaken temple. I mean, really! It makes me wonder what I was thinking way back when, waiting for the Avatar to do something. Was I foolish to let it drag on this long? Could I have done something? Maybe I-ah but I digress. We're making relatively good time on Appa here, despite the cold shoulder everyone seems to be giving Azula. Even Suki's upset about it, leaving Haru with those villagers-even though he asked to stay and protect them-and taking on a dangerous firebender instead. They have every right to be wary, I suppose.

Not that it'll matter, soon. I have plans of my own...pretty soon Ozai's going to be feeling a burn of his own.

Speaking of burning...is it getting hot in here?

Ah crap...

"FIREBALL!"

Naruto bit out a sigh and reluctantly set down his journal as another flaming ball of doom came hurtling out at them from behind, intent on swatting Appa from the sky once and for all. Aang's call had alerted him to the offending item, but even so he couldn't help but wonder why the boy hadn't dealt with it himself. No matter. An errant flick of the wrist was all it took to send the puitrid projectile hurtling back from whence it came, the slightest application of Shinra Tensei violently rebounding it at the pursuing vessel. The sickening crunch of fire meeting steel was most satisfactory but even then their hunter didn't slow in the slightest.

Zuko.

God, he had to give the boy credit where it was due; he was remarkably persistent. He probably wouldn't be flinging those fireballs if he knew his little sister was up here with the "Avatar" but Naruto wasn't inclinded to tip that part of his hand yet. It was crucial to his plans that Ozai's oldest sibling didn't realize just how deep Azula was in until they reached the temple. He felt bad about breaking the boy's mind really, but he didn't see any other way to snap poor Zuko out of the inkling that his "honor" hinged on capturing the Avatar.

You made your own honor.

With that thought firmly locked within his mind Naruto unslung his sword from his back standing tall in the saddle just as another blazing ball of death came roaring down on them. Kubikirihoucho screamed forward with a sibilant hiss, meeting the onrushing meteor and bissecting its smoldering surface the blazing sphere of heat effortlessly, sending the severed halves tumbling away into the ocean.

"Since when can you do that?!" Sokka exclaimed, staring at the smoldering sword.

"Since always!" Naruto barked back.

"Ah...Naruto?" Suki's voice called him from the saddle.

"Kinda busy!" Another swing, another fizzled fireball.

"Its important!" Aang called.

"Godamnit Arrowhead, what could be so-

The words died as Katara jerked him around to see what all the fuss was about.

"Oh."

Blockade.

That was his first thought as he saw the fleet of ships lying in wait. Of course there would be a blockade. They were headed into the Fire Nation, after all. He would've been surprised if they hadn't had one. Ozai was the paranoid sort, after all. Most Fire Lords were of the emotional sort, either so absorbed in their power that they wouldn't even consider an attack against their person or so fearful that they would swarm their own border with so many ships that you'd have to be suicidal to make an attempt on them. But this...there were way too many of those! You'd have to be insane to take on a fleet like that!

Thankfully, Naruto wasn't exactly sane.

'Yup,' he decided, 'I think its about that time. I can probably buy them a few hours if I use that...'

"Think you can handle your big brother if he catches up?" he asked of Azula.

"I can handle Zu-Zu, thank you very much!" she sniffed, indignant. Then she frowned. "But what are you-

Naruto's only response was to smile. Then his lips claimed hers in a brief, scorching kiss. Katara and Sukki colored. Aang and Sokka gawped. But none-absolutely none-were as red as poor Azula. Inwardly screaming in both rage and delight, relishing the harsh movements that just barely walked the fence between force and violence, it was all she could do to gasp out a breath as he stutter-stepped away.

"I...you...what was that for?!"

"For good luck, what else?!" Cackling, the Avatar of the Gods shouldered his brutal blade and stepped backwards off the bison, submitting to the wild winds raging around them. "Go on ahead! I'll see you guys in a few weeks!" Again, the looks on their faces! He wouldn't have traded it for anything else in the world.

Ah, priceless.

The effect was almost immediate; gravity hooked its claws into him and he dropped, sinking like a stone. Naruto gave himself to the momentum, shooting downward feetfirst. A manmade comet in all its firey and fury, he offered no resistance to the forces tugging at him; instead shooting downward as a spear from on high. Within moments, he was lost to the sight of his fellows. And as he fell he let go, releasing all restraints locked upon his power, his body violently tearing itself apart as the energies trapped within came roaring back out. It was horrible. Horrifying. Blue eyes flashed black, his skin boilind an unhealthy ebony. It was something he rarely used; something that forced him to discard all restraint, all remorse,

His own Avatar State.

"He's insane!" Azula cried, peering over the rim of the saddle, struggling to see the still-streaking fireball that was her partner. "There's no way he'll survive the landing!"

Suki simply yawned. "Three."

"Two. Katara continued blithely.

"One?" Azula blinked, baffled by the countdown.

A resounding bang signalled Naruto's arrival in the blockade.

"Um...is he supposed to be glowing?" Aang asked.

Five heads poked out over the saddle-six if one counted a certain lemur-gawping as a small tornado took up residence on the deck of the foremost ship. Then steel started flying.

"No, that's definitely new...

Zhao was staring at a hurricane given flesh and form.

Though there was no wind, vur something was taking shape within the crater that had been the bow, black specks obscuring and spinning at a dizzying pace to the height of six tornado glowed an iridescent, scintillating shade of shot out and danced across the deck and men cried out. The commander all but froze, his smugly satisfied smile slowly slipping away from him and into the daylight as a strange and haunting tune began to fill the air, further perpetuating this strange phenomena. A voice like thunder in the heavens shook them to their very bones, rattled them to their souls.

"Madness is a funny thing...

Taking shape through the tornado was a man, or something like a man. The figure flashed blue, spraying light in every direction, and not even Zhao was fast enough to cover his eyes. When he looked again, when he dared to open his eyes, a figure unlike any he had ever seen stood between him and the kunoichi cowering wide-eyed in the grass. The man's body appeared to be carved from glossy red and black marble, or shaped from liquid metal, save for the large, cleaver-like blade-clothed draped around his back.

...all you need...

The men blinked rapidly clamoring away from the creature taking shape. Three arms of glistening ebony extended outward on either side to make six in total, those rippling limbs glistening with untold power, untapped energies just waiting-begging-to be unleashed upon the world once more.

...is a little push."

Zhao swallowed once, one thought leaping to his mind as the creature stood woodenly

'What...is that?'

His clothes weren't so much clothes as skin, though he appeared to wear shoes and was sexless, his whole body was unrelieved black and every contour was crisply defined. He was lean and every muscle was etched, from his shoulders to his V of a chest to his stomach to his legs. There was something wrong about his skin, though. At first, the man or demon or statue made of flesh had reflected light like burnished steel. Now only parts of him gleamed, the crescents of his biceps, the horizontal slashes of his abdominal muscles. The rest of him faded from glossy black to faded scarlet whenever the shadows touched his being. Its head cocked no more than five degrees to the east, tilting almost in consideration for the maggots standing before it.

Then it grinned.

"Time for a push, boys."

Everything was suddenly a bloody bur; men and women were dying, fireballs were flying, and everything stood in complete chaos. And throughout it all, the God/Demon stood unharmed. It laughed and made a swiping motion with one of its many hands; unseen punches pummeling through the deck to pound soldiers into a pasty pulp. It swung about, crushing the blockade with invisible pushes, sending the ships plummeting to death in the waters, sinking to the briny abyss with their crew and all. He was death given form,

Throughout it all, Zhao could only watch, in powerless horror.

The creature cackled, tossing his sword forwards.

Zhao scrambled backwards like a drunken crab, barely avoiding decapitation at the hands of the massive cleaver, cringing as the spinning blade ploughed after him. It sank into the steel less than an inch from his head, spliting the hull in twine. And then inexplicably he did the unthinkable. The eerie creature that Naruto had become suddenly faded, leaving him whole and human once more.

He raised his hands.

"I surrender!"

"WHAT?!"

The shout could be heard halfway around the world. Appa, now too far away to make his own roar of confusion heard; simply brayed in distress. For all the time that Naruto had bought them, they'd expected him to at the very least, rejoin them once they'd gotten past the blockade. Instead, they found him surrendering, with only his promise of seeing them again soon to comfort them. Azula wanted nothing more than to turn around and wring his neck for doing such a thing, but pressed for time as they were, they could only press onward. Still, everyone wondered...

...what the hell was Naruto thinking?

Admiral Zhao could scarcely contain himself.

He would be a legend for this day. He'd done it! Captured him! The Avatar! He'd been a touch worried when the boy had become that thing but now it was over. He enjoyed every moment of slapping him in chains and tossing him into the brig, careful to shackle every part of his body. Wouldn't do for him to escape, after all.

"So here he is," he sneered, the words addressed to the prone form before him, "Funny, I expected you to be...older."

"Really?" Much to his complete confusion, the young man actually sighed at those words, as though this entire ordeal were nothing more than a mere distraction on the road of life for him. "I mean, really? That's it, huh? That's all you've got to say? I mean, I didn't expect much out of a thug like yourself, but damn!" he shook his head, chuckling quietly, snickering in the face of the man's growing wrath. "Why is it that the villian always has to have such cliched lines? Heaven forbid you'd have something, I don't know, interesting to say, considering you've got the pinnacle of godhood chained up in your basement."

"It doesn't matter who or what you say you are." Zhao sniffed. In his mind's eye, if this boy wasn't going to fear him, then there was no point in this fruitless intimidation. "You are now my prisoner; the Firelord will be most pleased when I bring him the Avatar in chains. You would've been wiser to fight to the death rather than surrender.

"Riiiiiight." Even here in chain's grasp, this deadpann was barely concealed. "So then you must be the asshole in charge of pursuing me and my friends, hmm? Zhao, right?" Unbidden he smiled and it was not a pleasant thing, that old smile of his. "Many thanks. You gave me the chance I needed to slip away. So, I'm gonna be merciful. I won't break you like the others. I'll just kill you."

"Kill me? Zhao scoffed, though he did take a swift step backwards. "You fool. You're bound and in chains. Even if you could escape I would never-YEEEEAAAARGH!"

Those words trailed off into a girlish squeal as a boot unerringly roared out of the steel to plant itself between his legs. Even as the world reeled around him a hand found his face and another, his neck. Then they began to twist, forcing the man's head at a hideously awkward angle. The last sound he heard was that of his own vertebrae snapping like so many twig, then...nothingness. His last sight was that of this captive towering over him, boot pressing down-

Crunch.

Naruto stood over him, grinning like the devil himself.

"You were saying something, shithead?"

When Zhao's corpse didnt respond, he snickered.

"Oh no," he soothed. "Don't get up on my account. I'll just be taking your ship for little joyride. You don't mind, do you?"

Cloaked, he stalked up to the deck. The guards and the crew never saw what killed them; even the helmsman only felt the knife after it had slit his throat. There was a reason he'd surrendered, after all. He needed at least one fully-functional vessel to carry out his mission. A mission that began...now

Smiling, Naruto took the wheel and gave it a hard turn.

"Sorry kids," he cast a wanton gaze to the skies, gazing wantonly at Appa's retreating form. "You're going to be on your own for a little bit." Cracking his knuckles, he turned his attention to the helm. It pained him to leave his family behind, no matter how brief their separation might be, but preparations needed to be made. With Zhao firmly out of the way and whatever plans he'd made disrupted, he had every confidence that his disciples would be perfectly safe while he was gone. Zuko was no real threat to them. No, now he could begin the first phase of his plan; a plan to bring down the Firelord in the only way he knew how:

Painfully.

"I've got some work to do."

A/N: Aaand there you have it! The focus was on almost everyone this chapter, although Azula stole more of the spotlight than most. She's such a tragic character; I can't help but enjoy writing her character out sometimes. I just really get into it. Naruto can be a saddistic bastard when he wants to be, but at least we finally see a serious side of him in this chapter, alongside his motivations, as well as his resolve to protect those dear to him. It also proves that age is truly nothing but a number to him when it comes to his friends/loved ones...

Next chapter we skip ahead a few episodes, and get right down to the nitty gritty! It'll be out soon, providing my health holds, so look forward to it ya know!

Anywho, I worked extremely hard on this one, so I hope to hear what you think! Pairing is up in the air! YOU DECIDE! And on a final note, thank you to everyone offering emotional support in regard to my health woes. Its greatly appreciated! An awful lot is going to change in this story soon! Look forward to an epic prank next chapter...provided my health holds out.

So...in accordance to the prophecy...

...Review, Would You, Dear Reader? And of course, enjoy the preview! I've made a slight chance to a certain someon's age...but guess who pops up!

(Preivew)

"Okay-ow!" Naruto grunted, glowering at the girl who'd just pelted him with a rock. She was a slim, waifish thing in a white kimono, long dark, ebony hair framing a heartshaped face from which blind eyes shone. Those blank andunseeing eyes regarding him with frightening intelligence. Even as he shifted a millimeter aside, he felt that gaze following him. Tracking him. She couldn't have been more than sixteen years old, and yet she completely dominated him with her prescence. She couldn't see. Yet her feet were bare. How in the word was she...oh. Oh, that was bloody brilliant. Naruto frowned a moment longer before it came to him, a smile all but overtaking his visage.

She saw through the earth. It was like a reverse Byakugan of sorts. Fascinating.

"What're you doing in my yard, loudmouth?" the voice that emerged from that desert flower was rough and annoyed. He almost grinned at it.

"It is common courtesy for a lady to give her name first."

"Toph." she all but spat back. "Happy? Now tell me who you are before I punt ya across the yard-

Naruto lowered his foot, and stomped. Hard. Before Toph could make good on her threat to launch him out of her family's yard, she found a pillar of earth slamming her backwards into the nearest wall. Naruto watched his handiworkk a moment longer before stomping again, causing his technique to crumble apart. His brief time within Azula's body had given him a basic concept of chi, enough to duplicate it to a rudimentary form with his own chakra. Regardless, the look on her face has been all too worth it. Definitely worth the detour.

"You're not the only one who can mess with the elements, girlie-oof!"

The air rushed out of him as a boulder bowled him over. It seemed Toph wasn't as frail as he'd first thought!

"Okay, now you're asking for it!" she shouted!

Well now...

...this was going to be interesting!

Hope you enjoyed! R&R! =D