When Chi Meets Chakra: A Space-Time Adventure Chapter 16 (part 1), a Naruto + Avatar: Last Airbender Crossover fanfic

CHAPTER 16: THE SI WONG DESERT (PART 1)

(Disclaimer: Avatar The Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon and Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I only own my OC's)

(PLEASE READ: THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL TO "SHUJINKO: THE FOURTH MEMBER", BUT A DIFFERENT STORY WITH SHUJINKO AS THE MAIN CHARACTER. THIS STORY WILL NOT HAVE ANY EFFECT WHATSOEVER IN "SHUJINKO SHIPPUDEN". I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL TO SHUJINKO'S ORIGINAL STORY)

Summary: One night, a stranger breaks into Shujinko's house and tries to steal one of the most mystical objects in the history of the Ozuma clan: The Eye of Kazemaru. When Shujinko tries to stop him, the two of them activate an ancient and forgotten power of the gem by accident, which sends them to another dimension where a certain bald-headed monk has to master the four elements in order to defeat the evil Fire Lord. What kind of impact will Shujinko's presence have in the Avatar universe? Who is this stranger and what does he want? Get ready for one wild space-time adventure

"How could you do this!? How could you allow those sandbenders to take Appa!? What's the matter with you!?"

Aang's words cut deep into the young earthbender's heart, having never felt so guilty in her life. She could still hear the Sky Bison roaring desperately in her head, begging for help as the sandbenders trussed him up with ropes and dragged him away without Toph being able to do anything about it, not without letting her friends die. She knew she did what she had to do, that she had no other choice, but even so, even so…

"This is your fault, Toph!" Aang continued to shout at her, completely overwhelmed by anger and fury. "You could've done something to warn us, or you could've fought those sandbenders yourself! Aren't you always boasting about how great of an earthbender you are? Did you even try to do anything to stop them? Answer me!"

"There was nothing I could've done!" Toph yelled back, not in an angry tone of voice, but loudly enough to match Aang's shouts. "The library was sinking! I couldn't hold it and fend off those sandbenders at the same time! And besides, I can hardly feel any vibrations out here. They snuck up on me before I-"

"You can't feel vibrations out here? That's your excuse? Appa is our friend! He's been with us for far longer than you have, and you didn't even bother to lift a finger to help him when he needed you the most! I can't believe you're this inconsiderate and selfish after all we've been through together!"

The airbender's fists were trembling as he gritted his teeth, feeling more and more irate every passing second. Appa, his companion, his buddy, his partner in mischief, and one of his closest friends, had been taken away from them, from him. He'd known that Sky Bison since he was a small cub and had grown to learn everything about him, even how to communicate with him to a level that could be considered almost human. The bond between them was just as genuine as a bond shared by two best friends who played together, ate together, traveled together, and fought together side by side.

Because that's how Aang saw Appa. Not as a pet or a domesticated animal, but as a friend who happened to have white fur, six legs, and a pair of horns. One who had been there for Aang almost his entire life and who had stuck with him through thick and thin. That very same friend was now miles away from them, surrounded by strangers, wondering where he was and why no one had come to his rescue. Toph had failed him, Aang himself had failed him, every single one of them had failed the Sky Bison by not being there for him. He had lost his people, his home, his culture, Monk Gyatso, and now Appa was gone too.

"Aang, you can't treat Toph like this. She did everything she could and you know it," Katara immediately intervened. What had happened to Appa was terrible and Aang had every reason to be angry, but he had no right to take it out on Toph when she had quite literally saved their lives. "We can't be arguing among ourselves now of all times. If we want to find Appa, we have to focus on getting out of here as soon as possible,"

"How are we supposed to do that?" Sokka asked, his voice filled with disbelief and desperation. "Appa was our ride, remember? Without him, there's no way we'll ever make it out of this desert,"

Upon hearing that, Aang's face turned reddish and a bulging vein appeared on the side of his forehead. "Our ride? Our ride!? Is that the only thing Appa is to you, Sokka!?"

"No, of course not! I didn't mean it like that! Appa is one of us and always has been, but-"

"But nothing! You guys only think about yourselves! It doesn't matter if the library was sinking or if we're in a desert, we should've never let this happen to Appa!" Aang exclaimed at the top of his lungs before stopping to catch his breath, still glaring daggers at the rest of Team Avatar. He had never raised his voice this much at any of his friends before, but he was too furious and distraught to care. "Appa never let us down. Appa never turned his back on us or abandoned us when things got tough. If it weren't for him, we would've never gotten this far and you know it, but instead of being worried about Appa, you're only worried about-"

"Aang, shut up. Just shut up already,"

Everyone turned around to where Shujinko was. The Ozuma's brow was heavily furrowed and he was glaring sharp daggers at the airbender, as if he was the only one who had a right to be outraged and not Aang. The members of Team Avatar blinked a couple of times in utter shock, wondering if their ears were deceiving them. Had Shujinko just told Aang, Aang, to shut up at a time like this? The young monk remained quiet for a short while, not out of compliance, but out of sheer bewilderment. "What did you say to me?"

"I said shut up already," Shujinko replied in a loud and clear tone of voice. "Are you listening to yourself, Aang? You're blaming us for something we had no control over and accusing us of being something we're not. Toph did the only thing she could do and it's thanks to her that we're still alive instead of buried under the desert. What happened to Appa is awful, but it wasn't anyone's fault, much less Toph's. If you want to find him, we need to get our heads straight and leave this place at once, so do us a favor and quit whining,"

A gelid silence fell upon them. Katara, Sokka, and Toph had no idea where Shujinko's harshness was coming from or why was he acting like this towards Aang. He was defending them from his unfair words, but the Chunin's attitude was far more confrontational than usual, bordering on aggressiveness. It came so out of nowhere that none of them knew how to feel about it, but what they did know was that there was no way in hell Aang was going to take it well.

They were proven right when the airbender took a step forward and met Shujinko's glare with a glare of his own, snarling like a Pigmy Puma. "Look who's talking! You're the one who got us in this mess! If you hadn't bothered those sandbenders from before, they would've left us alone and Appa would be fine right now! This is all on you, Shujinko!"

"Really? Well, following that logic, this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't picked that stupid oasis as our vacation destination, so that makes you just as guilty as I am!" Shujinko replied, taking a step forward as well. He and Aang were now at arms' length and growing increasingly angrier with one another, to the point where the others could smell the hostility in the air. "You wanna know what the truth is, Aang? The truth is that you're nothing but a phony. You go around telling people how they can trust in you, how you're willing to support them and be their friend, but you don't actually mean any of it. In all the time I've known you, not once have I seen you help anyone but yourself. You wouldn't even care about Toph if she wasn't teaching you Earthbending, or about me if it weren't for all the problems I solve for you. As far as I can tell, you're the most dishonest person out of all of us, and a liar to boot,"

"And as far as I can tell, you're the most selfish jerk I've ever known! While we're trying to stop a war, all you care about is going back to your stinking village! You don't give a darn if the rest of the world continues to suffer as it has for the last hundred years, and you only joined us because you didn't know what else to do! A ninja such as yourself could never understand how it feels like to be pulled apart from a friend because you've never even had one in the first place!"

BAAM

Shujinko couldn't take it anymore. He formed a fist and smacked Aang across the face hard enough to make him lose his balance. The punch sent the young monk tumbling backwards before falling on his back, raising a small cloud of dust and sand upon his landing.

"Aang!" Katara exclaimed as she went to help him, completely mortified by what she had just seen. She knelt next to the airbender, who was whimpering and covering his mouth with his hand. When Katara managed to pull his hand aside, she saw a trickle of blood running from the corner of his lips where Shujinko had struck him, to which her eyes went wide. "Shujinko, what did you do that for!? You hurt Aang!" she shouted, but the Chunin ignored her as he walked towards the Avatar.

Then, before Katara could stop him, Shujinko stooped down and grabbed Aang by the collar of his robes, pulling him until their faces were close. "Listen closely, you damn idiot! You have no idea who I am or what I've had to go through!" Shujinko shouted at the frightened boy, his golden eyes sparkling with rage. "You think I don't understand how it feels like!? Appa may be lost somewhere in this desert, but my village, my family, my friends, everything and everyone I love is in another part of this world! So don't you dare talk to me about being pulled apart, got it!?"

Aang was too stunned to respond. His jaw was trembling from the punch and the unfamiliar taste of blood was getting increasingly more present. He had never, ever witnessed the Ozuma react in such a violent manner, much less raise a hand against another member of Team Avatar. For a brief moment, Aang felt as if he was being yelled at by a complete stranger, not the Chunin he and the Water Tribe siblings had bumped into when they stopped by Gi Yuin Village.

"How would you like to be in my position? How would you like it if everything you've ever known disappeared all of a sudden, and no matter what you do, nothing gets you closer to your home? Do you think it's easy feeling like that all of the time? Do you!? Answer me!"

"Shujinko, please stop. Please…" Katara pleaded weakly, fearful of what could happen next. Shujinko wasn't being himself right now, he just wasn't. There was no way of knowing how badly he could injure Aang if Shujinko kept beating him up, especially since none of them would be able to stop him.

At first, it looked as though Shujinko was going to hit Aang a second time, but after some hesitation, the Chunin took a deep breath and pushed the airbender back to the ground, still giving him a pungent glare. "You're lucky we have bigger problems to worry about right now. But I'm warning you Aang, if you ever repeat what you just said to me, or if I hear you insulting my village again, I won't let anyone stop me from beating the stuffing out of you. That's a promise,"

With nothing left to say, the Ozuma walked past the Avatar, leaving Katara to take care of him. That bald loudmouth wasn't worthy of another minute of his time and Shujinko wasn't even interested in getting an apology from him, though he highly doubted Aang would give him anything remotely close to that. He filled his lungs with the hot air around him and suppressed all of his emotions to focus on what needed to be done, which was to find a way out of this cursed sea of sand. Everything else, including his anger and frustration, would have to wait.

Katara reached for her leather pouch to start healing Aang, but the airbender shook her hand away and got up, grabbing his glider while hiding his face. "I'm going to find Appa," he said, and before anyone could stop him, Aang jumped high into the air and flew away, leaving Team Avatar behind. Since no one was willing to go after those sandbenders, he would have to do it on his own.

000

'This is the worst day of my life,'

Such thought kept repeating itself with every step Shujinko took as he and his friends aimlessly wandered through the Si Wong Desert. The high temperatures and the stony desolation they were surrounded by provided a punishment that not even the Chunin knew how to endure. The unforgiving desert sun was making him sweat constantly, causing his clothes to get stuck to his skin in the most unpleasant way possible. His backpack had practically adhered to him at this point. If that wasn't enough, sand would occasionally get between his toes as they weren't covered by his boots, which only made his already lamentable situation even more irritating.

Aang had yet to return. The waterbender of the group was certain that he'd come back sooner or later, with our without Appa. Shujinko supposed she was right and hoped that that would be the case, but he was still mad at him for what he'd said to him. To be precise, his words alone hadn't caused Shujinko to grow upset. It was a bundle of grievances and headaches accumulated in a very short amount of time that had exasperated the Chunin beyond measure; Aang's outburst was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

It all began the moment Shujinko realized he could no longer wear his headband without the risk of getting recognized by the Fire Nation. It was unfortunate, sure, but not terrible on its own. Then, upon finding Wan Shi Tong's Library, he was forced to give up his diary, one of his most cherished possessions. Aang, Sokka, and Katara refusing to help him find information about the shinobi continent after he helped them discover the solar eclipse was a low blow that made Shujinko resent them, followed by Wan Shi Tong sinking his library, which deprived him of doing any further research. Once they made it out of that place, they came to find out Appa had been stolen by sandbenders, leaving them completely lost in the arid desert.

All of that took a huge mental toll on Shujinko, who was barely keeping it together by the time the airbender started to badmouth everyone around him. The Ozuma understood why Aang was so angry and hurt, and had the circumstances been different, he would've allowed the Avatar to unburden himself without interrupting him. But Shujinko wasn't made out of stone. The intense stress he was experiencing was simply too much to let Aang berate the rest of Team Avatar with impunity, which was why Shujinko couldn't stop himself from getting in his face and start berating him back, calling him out on his childish attitude among other things.

The golden-eyed boy wasn't sure if everything he had said to Aang was true or not. He wasn't thinking straight due to his weary emotional state. Calling Aang a phony and a liar was mostly the result of Shujinko being bitter about not receiving the help he felt he was owed and that the Avatar had promised to lend him. It wasn't as if he expected Aang to bend over backwards for him whenever he asked for a favor, but the airbender didn't even volunteer to help him find what he was looking for at the library; neither did the Water Tribe siblings for that matter. Their lack of cooperation aggravated Shujinko, who now felt used and taken advantage of.

There was some truth to that. Shujinko did care more about returning to his village than he did about stopping the war he'd gotten involved in, so in that regard, he supposed he was somewhat selfish… but so what? It wasn't his responsibility to put an end to a conflict he had nothing to do with and no one could tell him otherwise. And yes, he had joined Aang's group because he didn't know what else to do. How did that make him a bad person? What other option did he have?

Shujinko reached his breaking point when Aang had the nerve to claim a ninja such as himself couldn't possibly know how being pulled apart from a friend felt like because he'd never had one. The Chunin lost control of himself and ended up punching Aang, something he wasn't proud of, but didn't regret doing either. Avatar or not, angry or not, Aang had crossed a line and got decked as a result. It was a shame it had to come to that, but Shujinko simply couldn't tolerate that sort of disrespect from anyone, especially not from someone who didn't have a clue what he was talking about. It was a lesson Aang had to learn and the Ozuma hoped his punch had sent a clear enough message.

"Katara, can we have some water?" Toph asked as the group came to a halt. Given how loose and shifty the sand was, the earthbender couldn't rely on the earth's vibrations to see, which was why Shujinko had tied some wire strings around her waist and held the opposite end in order to guide Toph around.

The waterbender sighed and opened her leather pouch, bending several small blobs of water and distributing them equally amongst the five of them, giving a slightly smaller portion to Momo. Shujinko made sure to drink it all, not letting even a single drop of the liquid go to waste. Despite being somewhat warm and having a bit of a metallic taste to it, Shujinko's throat was grateful for the water and he immediately began to feel better, though he feared his thirst would return sooner rather than later.

"I hate to state the obvious, but there isn't enough water in Katara's pouch for all of us," Shujinko said, shaking his feet to get rid of the sand that had entered his boots. "We need to find another source and quick,"

"Another source?" Sokka repeated before setting his eyes on a plump cactus that happened to be nearby. "Well, I think I found just the thing," he said with a smile before approaching the desert plant, machete in hand. Sokka then sliced the top of the cactus that had fewer spines, and to Shujinko's surprise, there was milk-like liquid stored inside the chopped bit. "Aha! Jackpot!"

"Sokka, what are you doing!? You shouldn't drink anything that comes from strange plants!" Katara shouted, but it was too late. Her brother gulped down the desertic beverage with gusto and proceeded to slice more chunks off the cactus, drinking its juice to his heart's content. Momo instinctively joined the boy from the Southern Water Tribe and started slurping what little juice was left. "Are… Are you alright?"

Sokka let out a sigh of pleasure and glanced at his sister with a goofy look on his face. "Of course I am. This stuff is great. Here, you want some?"

Katara stared warily at the chunk of cactus Sokka was offering her. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea. It might look harmless, but we don't know what could be in it, and I'd rather stay on the safe side,"

"We might not have much of a choice, Katara," Shujinko interjected. "If we don't stay hydrated, we won't get very far. Besides, Sokka seems to be fi-"

All of a sudden, Sokka's body started to twitch and his pupils became widely dilated. Like a victim of a seizure, Sokka shook his head left and right and performed a bizarre dance of sorts, holding the chunk of cactus as if it were a sacred object. "Drink cactus juice!" he said in a slurry voice. "It'll quench ya'! Nothing's quenchier! It's the quenchiest!"

"… Forget I said anything,"

000

As Aang continued to fly around the desert, he kept calling out Appa's name and frantically blew his bison whistle as hard as he could, hoping to hear a roar or any sound that might indicate where his buddy was. He'd been going at it for hours, but so far, all he'd come across was sand and a few species of scavenger animals. Meanwhile, the weather and the abundant sunlight were making it harder for him to carry on with his search, and although he was determined to find Appa at all cost, Aang knew he'd eventually collapse if he persisted in his efforts. He might have an iron will, but his body was still made of flesh and bones, and vulnerable just like any other.

The pain in his left cheek was proof enough of that. Every now and then, Aang had to rub and caress the spot where Shujinko had struck him, which was now swollen and sensitive to the touch. It surprised the Avatar how fast Shujinko had moved when he punched him, for Aang's eyes had barely registered a blur by the time the Chunin's fist made contact with his jaw. What surprised him more, however, wasn't how fast the hit had landed, but the fact that Shujinko had hit him at all. That one single punch was making Aang experience not just physical pain, but a whole slew of emotions as well.

"I said shut up already… Are you listening to yourself, Aang? You're blaming us for something we had no control over and accusing us of being something we're not… What happened to Appa is awful, but it wasn't anyone's fault, much less Toph's. If you want to find him, we need to get our heads straight and leave this place at once, so do us a favor and quit whining,"

…

"You wanna know what the truth is, Aang? The truth is that you're nothing but a phony. You go around telling people how they can trust in you, how you're willing to support them and be their friend, but you don't actually mean any of it… As far as I can tell, you're the most dishonest person out of all of us, and a liar to boot,"

For starters, he was angry at Shujinko, angrier than he'd ever been at any member of Team Avatar before. His anger didn't stem solely from the punch he got from the Ozuma, although it was certainly a factor. No, the biggest reason why he was so mad at Shujinko was how the Chunin was apparently unbothered by the kidnapping of Appa. If anything, Shujinko seemed to have a bigger problem with him, Aang, being outraged over what had happened, which made no sense whatsoever. It still made the airbender furious every time he remembered how the golden-eyed boy had told him to shut up and to stop whining.

"You're lucky we have bigger problems to worry about right now. But I'm warning you Aang, if you ever repeat what you just said to me, or if I hear you insulting my village again, I won't let anyone stop me from beating the stuffing out of you. That's a promise,"

However, as his anger towards Shujinko increased, so did his fear and apprehension. Aang now knew that, if sufficiently provoked, the Chunin was willing to harm him. Granted, he only threw just one punch and he could've hit him a lot harder than he did, but it was still a punch. The thing that truly concerned the Avatar was what would happen to him if, for whatever reason, the two of them got into an altercation and Shujinko decided to not hold back. It was an unlikely scenario, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

Aang wasn't an idiot. He knew Shujinko could pulverize him if he really wanted to. He saw the full extent of the Chunin's abilities during his fight against the hooded man, and what a display that was. Shujinko was stronger, faster, nimbler, and at least in terms of battle strategies, smarter than him. That was without taking into account his fighting experience, his Ninjutsu techniques, and the Karura Tensei, which Shujinko himself claimed to be his greatest asset. Unlike Aang, who was taught to believe in peace and minimal confrontation, the golden-eyed boy was raised, trained, and prepared for combat. According to Shujinko, he even descended from an old clan of warriors. Battle was in his blood.

But apart from his anger and fear, there was another emotion gnawing at him, one that was more present than the other two despite Aang's best efforts to deny it to himself. It was the feeling of doubt.

"…You think I don't understand how it feels like!? Appa may be lost somewhere in this desert, but my village, my family, my friends, everything and everyone I love is in another part of this world! So don't you dare talk to me about being pulled apart, got it!?"

…

Despite being in shock after getting punched, Aang was still able to recognize the desperation behind those words. It was the first time he'd ever seen Shujinko, the calm, collected, and rational ninja, yelling about how he was feeling. The airbender knew for a fact that the Chunin wasn't someone who made a habit of expressing his emotions out loud, even during stressful situations. But this time, he literally shouted at his face with the same vehemence with which Aang had expressed himself prior to that. It was… Well, it was eye-opening in a way.

This revelation was what was conflicting Aang so much. He just wanted to be angry at Shujinko, and he certainly was angry, but a feeling of remorse was holding him back from fully embracing said emotion. What the Chunin had said about being so unbelievably far away from everything he held dear and feeling so hopeless resonated with the Avatar, who had experienced almost the very same thing following his awakening at the South Pole. When he found out about the war and the extermination of his people at the hands of the Fire Nation, as well as how a hundred years had passed since the night he left the Southern Air Temple, Aang was in complete disbelief and it took him a while to start accepting the reality he was in, as painful as it was.

But Shujinko's case was different. Regardless of how much it hurt, the Air Nomads were gone and Aang had to come to terms with it, but the Hidden Leaf Village still existed and Shujinko was determined to go back there. However, his village was so incredibly far away from where he was that, at times, it felt as though the Ozuma was running an impossible and meaningless errand. While Aang himself didn't have the opportunity to return to his old life, Shujinko did have it, but was unable to take it no matter how much he wanted to. It was as if he was chasing after something that kept running away from him, and Aang could see how that would throw anyone into despair.

With such complex emotions swirling inside of him, the young airbender no longer knew what Shujinko was to him. Were they still friends with one another? Had they ever been friends in the first place? Could they mend their relationship or was it damaged beyond repair?

The answers to those questions escaped him and it was still too early for him to find them, so Aang shook his head and focused on the one thing he knew for sure.

He had to find Appa.

000

|Some hours later|

"Katara, why are there wings growing out of your ears? Who lit Toph on fire? And why is Shujinko wearing a dirty diaper?"

Shujinko sighed as he continued to walk through the desert, having lost count of how many nonsensical questions Sokka had asked ever since he drank cactus juice, which had caused him to go into a severe hallucinogenic state. Momo was also affected by it as the Winged Lemur kept making weird and out-of-tune screechy noises, wiggling his tiny limbs around for no apparent reason. The sun had begun to retreat, making it easier to tolerate the weather, but the members of Team Avatar were growing ever more exhausted after traveling for hours nonstop. Aang had yet to show up, which worried everyone in the group except for Sokka, who barely had a grasp on the situation they were in.

"Hey Shujinko, check this out," Sokka said as he placed Momo on top of his forehead without the little guy posing any sort of resistance. "This is my headband. I'm a ninja from the Hidden Lemur Village,"

The Ozuma didn't even bother to throw a glance over his shoulder. "Very nice, Sokka," he responded, to which Sokka giggled like an idiot.

"Look, I can do jutsus too. I call this one… The Sokka Jutsu," Letting out yet another sigh, Shujinko turned around with a frazzled look on his face and waited for Sokka to stop whatever cactus juice-induced shenanigans he was up to now, as it was too risky to let him out of their sight in his current state. Sokka began to make clumsy gestures with both hands, which the Chunin assumed were attempts at weaving shinobi hand signs. As soon as he was done, the boy from the Southern Water Tribe closed his eyes and cracked a goofy smile. "There we go, should be ready aaaaany minute now,"

"These are the worst vacations ever," Toph muttered. "I don't even like to hear Sokka's incessant yapping when he's lucid, but this is just-"

BOOOOOOOM

Before the earthbender could finish her sentence, Team Avatar was caught off guard by a sudden gust of wind that came out of nowhere. Shujinko turned his face away to shield his eyes from the sand in the air, and once the wind calmed down, he found himself staring at a huge cloud of dust that ascended from the ground a couple of miles away. "What the hell is that?" Shujinko asked, watching the size of the cloud slowly increasing.

"What the hell is what? What's going on?"

"… It's a giant mushroom. Maybe it's friendly! Let's give it a hug!" Sokka exclaimed in glee as he began to wave his arms and hips to the sides, throwing Momo off his forehead without even realizing it. "Friendly mushroom! Mushy giant friend!"

"Do you think Sokka would hold it against us if we leave him behind?" Shujinko inquired, a little surprised by how honestly he had asked that question.

"I don't imagine he'd appreciate it too much once he comes back to his senses," Katara replied as she grabbed her brother's hand and dragged him away. "Come on, let's get going. We have a long way ahead of us and it's starting to get dark… I sure hope Aang is okay,"

Even though he shared Katara's concern, Shujinko kept it to himself and didn't voice it. He was still annoyed by what Aang had told him and it would most likely take some time before the two of them could smooth things over, not that they had much time or energy left. As much as he tried to avoid thinking about it, the brown-haired teen knew deep inside this desert would the end of them unless they stumbled upon shelter with enough food and water, and even then they might not make it.

Shujinko wasn't someone who normally requested divine interventions from whichever cosmic deity was in charge of his luck, but seeing how bad things were looking for them, he whispered a silent prayer and asked the heavens to please let him return to his village alive, or at the very least, not let him and his friends die here.

|Some hours later|

A figure in the sky crossed Shujinko's gaze, who immediately caused him to stop along with the rest of Team Avatar. At first, he thought it was a bird that happened to be flying by, but he soon realized it was actually Aang. The airbender glided down and landed in front of them with his back turned and his head hanging low. Instead of saying anything, Aang simply sat on the sand, acting as if he hadn't disappeared on them for hours. Katara approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Aang, I'm sorry. I really am," Katara said softly. "I know you're going through a rough moment, but right now, we need to stick together more than ever before. It's the only way we can-"

"We can what?" the Avatar interrupted her, his voice filled with sadness and sorrow. "Without Appa, we'll never get out of this desert and we all know it,"

"That's not true. This isn't the end, not if we refuse to give up,"

However, when she turned around to look for someone to back her up, the only thing the waterbender found was more hopelessness in the faces of her friends. While he had sobered up a little, her brother was still under the effects of the cactus juice and was too out of it to be even remotely helpful. Sokka was currently lying on the sand with his arms and legs spread open, mumbling and giggling to himself. It was usually his job to come up with a plan to get Team Avatar out of trouble, but right now, Sokka was as useful as a baby.

Toph wasn't handling things much better. Without her connection to the earth, the one thing that kept her aware of her surroundings, Toph was truly blind. This blindness was making her feel unprotected, vulnerable, and most of all, weak. If that wasn't enough, she still felt guilty about what had happened to Appa, and while she was clinging to the idea that it wasn't her fault, a voice inside of her kept berating Toph, telling her she'd let everyone down and that her friends were paying the price for her ineptitude.

Not even Shujinko, the boy whose endurance and survival skills had been made clear since the day he joined Team Avatar, was displaying his usual fortitude. For the first time, Shujinko didn't have any solutions to offer or any suggestions to propose. The tall trees, the wet grass, the leafy bushes, the creeping rivers, that was the kind of environment he was used to, not the parched and exposed wildness of the deserts. The Chunin was completely out of his element, and even though Shujinko was the most surprising fighter Katara had ever met, nature was an enemy not even he could stand against.

Far from making her lose faith, the dejected mood of her friends caused the flame of Katara's spirit to burn brighter. She understood this was the time she needed to step up and be the driving force they so desperately needed. No matter what happened, she was not going to lower her arms and accept the cruel fate they were facing, not without defying it first. "Listen everyone, we're going to make it out of this and we're gonna do it together," Katara said with a firm voice, using that strict mother tone that Sokka often teased her about. "Aang, get up. Shujinko, wake Sokka up. We have to make the most of what little daylight there's left and keep moving,"

"Can't we get some rest first?" Toph asked. "I've never walked this much in my entire life and my feet are tired of stepping on this stupid sand,"

"Sorry Toph, but that's gonna have to wait. Traveling at night is too dangerous. We can stop for a few hours once it gets dark, but until then, our only option is to carry on. Isn't that right, Shujinko?"

"… I don't know. I've never traveled across a desert before, and I sure as hell don't know how we're gonna survive this," Shujinko admitted after a while. Katara looked miffed by his lack of motivation, but before she could retort, Shujinko reached for his backpack and retrieved his headband and a small drawstring pouch. "However, what I do know is that, with or without daylight, we won't get very far if we're tired. That's where these might come in handy,"

Katara watched as the Ozuma opened the pouch and took a single object out of it. It was a small, round, dark brown edible that looked like a snack. Shujinko held it between his fingertips with great care, which caught the waterbender's attention. "What's that? A candy?" she asked.

"This right here is a food pill, and it's about the furthest thing from candy that you can imagine. Food pills serve as energy boosters that nourish your body and replenish your strength and chakra. Ninjas like me use them whenever we're in a tough spot and we know our bodies won't hold out much longer. It is said that a ninja who takes one of these can fight for three days and three nights without stopping. I don't know if that's completely true or not, but I've had to rely on soldier pills before and I can vouch for their effectiveness,"

After hearing Shujinko's explanation, Toph narrowed her eyes. Even though she didn't know a whole lot about ninjas and warfare in general, she had enough common sense to realize these so-called food pills sounded extremely convenient. There was no way the human body could receive such benefits without some form of backlash as a consequence; otherwise, knowing how cautious Shujinko was, he would've already given a food pill to each member of Team Avatar in case they ever needed to use them. "So what's the catch, then? What happens once the effects of these pills wear off?"

"That's the complicated part. Soldier pills are like loans, but with energy instead of money. Once you run out of it, you're left completely exhausted and you might suffer secondary effects such as anxiety and panic. That's why these should only be used during emergencies, and I think you'll agree with me when I say our current situation is one huge emergency," Shujinko said as his eyes met Katara's, giving her a serious look. "I vote we take half a pill each. That way, we get half the energy, but we also cut half the negative effects. It's not like we'll last very long out here, so we might as well take a gamble now before it's too late,"

Katara remained silent for a while, measuring the pros and cons of Shujinko's proposition. On one hand, the idea of ingesting one of those food pills, even half of one, made Katara feel uneasy. Getting an energy boost sounded great and they could very much use one right now, but she didn't want to picture herself completely exhausted in the middle of a desert, which basically meant a death sentence. But on the other hand, the Ozuma had a point. If they were already almost too tired to keep traveling and lacked basic resources to sustain themselves, those food pills might just make enough of a difference to let them survive.

"Screw it, I think we should take those food pills," Toph said. "It's not like we have much to lose anyway,"

Katara took her time to think. She was still hesitant about the whole thing and she didn't know what choice was the right one, but in the end, Shujinko's expectant stare finally pushed her to make a decision. "… Well, when you put it that way, I suppose it's a risk worth taking. Fine, let's do it,"

The brown-haired boy proceeded to use his headband as a makeshift cutting board where he placed two food pills and carefully split them up in equal halves with a kunai. He thought it would be better if they didn't give one to Sokka, as he was still hallucinating and half a food pill could cause him to freak out and do something both dangerous and stupid. After making sure he got the measures right, Shujinko took the food pills in his hand and put the rest of his belonging back inside his backpack.

"One last thing before we do this. Food pills are famous for tasting really bad. You're not going to like them, but whatever you do, make sure you eat them and don't think about spitting them out. If you do that, I'll put them back into your mouths and make you eat them myself, even if you have to swallow sand," Having made his warning, Shujinko then popped half of a food pill into his mouth, chewed it for a while, and gulped it down once it was soft enough.

As always, it felt like swallowing a mud-flavored bubble gum. He couldn't even use water to wash it down because of how little available there was, so Shujinko had to make do with his own saliva. Once he got over the initial unpleasantness, the Ozuma instantly began to feel the bracing effects of the food pill making themselves present as a surge of energy entered his body. His muscles, once weary and sore, were now pumped and begging to be flexed. His thirst was reduced to a slightly uncomfortable feeling in his throat while his heart started to beat at a higher rate, stimulating the flow of blood through his veins.

Shujinko waited for his body to get used to the effects of the food pill before giving Toph and Katara one half of a pill each. The two girls cupped their half in the palm of their hands and slowly brought them to their mouths. Soon, their eyes widened and their faces turned a sickly green, making raspy noises as their lips struggled to remain closed. Had they been in less calamitous circumstances, Shujinko would've found their reactions quite amusing, but right now, he was busy making sure the pair of benders ate what they had been given.

Fortunately, both Katara and Toph swallowed the pill before the urge to gag became too great, though that didn't stop them from falling to their knees in a loud coughing fit. "That was… the most disgusting thing… I've ever eaten…" the earthbender said amidst gasps, clutching her neck as if she was choking. "This damn pill better be amazing… because if not, I swear I'll…"

Suddenly, the coughing ceased and the eyes of the two girls grew wide enough to resemble dinner plates. Before they knew it, their fatigue was gone, replaced by an intense feeling of vitality that made both of them stand up immediately. A rush of adrenaline took hold of the pair of benders, who were buzzing with energy in a way they had never experienced before.

"Wha… What's going on?" Katara asked, feeling the core of her being getting soaked in raw vigor. Even Aang, who had kept his distance in silence from the moment he got there, couldn't help but steal a curious and discreet glance at her. "I-I feel like-"

"Like I can do anything right now!" Toph exclaimed abruptly, showing enthusiasm for the first time since Team Avatar was left stranded in the desert. "You weren't kidding, Shujinko. These food pills of yours are something else,"

"That they are, but let's not waste any more time. Remember that these effects are temporary, so we have to make the most of it before we run out of juice," Shujinko replied. He then approached the sulking airbender until he stood next to him, extending his hand to offer Aang the last piece of food pill. Aang, however, continued to sit on the ground and ignored him. "Aang, now's not the moment to be immature. Take the pill and let's get a move on,"

Aang looked away, refusing to make eye contact with the Chunin. He still had mixed feelings about Shujinko and he just didn't feel like making amends with him right now. Was it childish of him? Maybe, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "I don't want it,"

"I said take it,"

"And I said I don't want it,"

"Take it or I'll shove it down your throat,"

…

Still not looking at him, Aang took his half of the food pill from Shujinko's hand and ate it, an annoyed frown on his face. His facial features quickly turned sour as his palate endured the punishment of having to consume something so unappealing and gross, to the point where his stomach began to churn on itself. After swallowing what had to be the foulest comestible ever cooked, Aang got on his feet and gripped his glider with renewed strength, ready to find Appa as well as those who had dared take him away.

|Misty Palms Oasis|

"May I have this game?"

Fung left his cup on the table and stared at the man in front of him, who was giving him a complicit look. He was accompanied by a teenager with a large burn mark on his face, who didn't seem very keen on the idea of watching two old men play board games. Not being one to refuse a few rounds of Pai Sho, Fung gestured the stranger to sit down and poured him some tea, which he graciously accepted. "It would be my pleasure. I'm afraid not many around here have either the time or the interest to play Pai Sho. You're the first to join me on this day,"

"In that case, I hope I can give you an enjoyable first encounter. Tell me, would you mind if I take the first move?"

"Not at all. As the guest, that is your prerogative," The man nodded before selecting one particular tile out of the many that were stacked on his corner and placing it at the very center of the board. Fung leaned in closer to see what play the stranger was going for, and his eyes sparkled with interest when he saw it was the tile of the White Lotus. "I see you favor the White Lotus gambit. Only a few still cling to the ancient ways," he said. Fung now knew why his opponent had given him that complicit look from earlier, but as always, some formalities needed to be met in order to make sure the man was one of his own.

"Those who do can always find a friend," And so, the two players began to place their tiles in a certain pattern, taking turns to see what the other was doing. The scarred teenager took a seat between them in silence, clearly unsure of what was going on. Once all the tiles were in their place, their combined shape resembled the figure of the tile at the very center of the board, and all doubts were erased. Fung was in the presence of a fellow member of the White Lotus.

"Welcome, brother," Fung said. "The White Lotus opens wide to those who know her secrets,"

|Several hours later at night|

With nothing but the moonlight to help illuminate their path, the members of Team Avatar walked across the Si Wong Desert at a steady pace, keeping their eyes peeled in case they saw anything that might resemble a settlement, a caravan, or a human being amidst the endless sea of sand they were in. The sound of rodents and insects crawling about became more and more recurrent the darker it got, and Shujinko warned the group to watch their steps at all times. Despite his overall lack of knowledge in regards to deserts, the Chunin had heard animals such as vipers and scorpions were common creatures around these parts and he didn't fancy getting bitten or stung by either of them.

Although Aang wasn't going to say it out loud, he had to admit Shujinko's food pills were nothing short of helpful. He and the rest of Team Avatar had spent hours traveling nonstop across the desert without a bite of food or a swig of water, and yet he still felt he had plenty of energy left. Katara and Toph seemed to be doing just as fine, for Aang hadn't heard either of them ask for a break and had kept a steady pace. The only one who was slowing the group down was Sokka, but it wasn't as bad as it had been a couple of hours ago, when Sokka was still spewing nonsense and behaved like a drunken child. At least now he remained quiet for most of the time, except for a few absurd comments here and there.

Shujinko and Aang hadn't spoken a word to each other after the Chunin handed him the food pill. If there was something they wanted to communicate, they addressed the entire group and voiced their thoughts to them, although there wasn't really a lot to talk about, at least for the moment. This was hardly the time or the place for the two of them to sit down and discuss their brief but intense altercation, but even if that were to be the case, Aang wouldn't know what to do. He had never been in a fight with one of his friends before. He had argued with them in the past, sure, but arguing and throwing hands were two very different things. The airbender didn't even know how Shujinko felt about the whole thing, if he wanted to apologize or if he thought he had done no wrong, and Aang certainly wasn't going to ask him about it.

"Ouch!" Toph let out a yelp of pain as she unexpectedly fell to the ground, holding her left foot with both her hands. The group came to a halt and turned to see her, worried that the earthbender had gotten injured somehow. "Crud! I am so sick of not feeling where I'm going! Shujinko, you're supposed to guide me, remember? Why didn't you warn me I was about to hit a boat?"

"Oi, don't blame me, Toph. It's not like I can see everything around me, and how was I supposed to know there was a boat in the middle of… Wait, did you just say 'boat'?

Toph grunted loudly as she pointed at a wooden edge protruding out of the sand close to where she was. "At least your ears still work. Yes, I said boat. I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations thanks to you,"

The Ozuma ignored her and went to check whatever it was that the sand had nearly swallowed completely. He placed his hands on the wooden edge and tried to pull the rest of what lied beneath back into the surface. However, the object was too large and heavy for him and didn't budge an inch. Katara went to help him, but their combined efforts weren't enough to make the slightest difference. "Step aside, I got this," Aang ordered as he aimed with his staff. "Close your eyes and cover your ears. This is going to spread sand everywhere,"

"What are you going to do, Twinkletoes?" Toph asked, but got no answer in return as the Avatar took a couple of steps back. After putting some distance between himself and the wooden edge, Aang performed a short sprint and jumped forward, slamming his staff against the ground as hard as he could.

The sudden release of air shot sand sideways like tiny projectiles. Shujinko pressed the palm of his hands against his ears and turned around, wincing as the back of his body got covered in a thin layer of sand and dust. Once it was over, the Chunin was greeted with the sight of a wooden vehicle that was roughly the size of Appa. The contraption was equipped with two large runners and a sail attached in between, providing enough space for a handful of people. Shujinko was sure he had seen one of those before, and it was Katara who confirmed his suspicions.

"Look, it's one of those boats the sandbenders used!" she exclaimed as she stepped aboard the sand-sailer, with the rest of Team Avatar following suit. The waterbender inspected the vehicle's design and was surprised by its overall good condition despite being buried in the sand for at least months. Once she approached the quarterdeck, Katara found something else that caught her attention. "Check this out. This thing even has some kind of compass. I bet it can point us out of here,"

Narrowing his eyes, Shujinko poked the compass several times to make sure it wasn't broken. After a few oscillations, the needle settled into its equilibrium orientation, which pointed at one specific direction. "I know what this is. It's a magnetic compass. They're designed to indicate the path towards the magnetic center of a place. My guess is this is what sandbenders use to guide themselves through the desert. I don't think I'll take us out of here, but it should take us… well, somewhere,"

"That sounds great and all, but how are we supposed to sail this thing around?" Toph asked. "I remember professor Zei said something about sandbenders using their Sandbending to propel and steer the sails. I've never attempted Sandbending before, but if you give me some time to practice, maybe I can get the hang of it,"

"There's an easier solution," Katara replied with a hopeful smile. "From what I saw, those sandbenders generated wind by bending whirling columns of sand. If wind is what we need, then Aang can use Airbending and we'll get the same result. See? I told you we're going to make it out of this. Isn't that right, Sokka?"

"GUYS, I CAN'T FIND MOMO!" Sokka shouted all of a sudden, his eyes wide in panic. "He was here just a second ago, but now he's gone! Those darned sandbenders must've captured him, or maybe he turned on us and joined them instead! I always told you that little guy wasn't trustworthy at all, but you didn't care to listen! We have to find Momo before he spills the beans and tells everyone about the solar ecl-"

"Sokka, Momo hasn't gone anywhere," Shujinko interrupted him. "He's inside your handbag,"

Sokka stopped twirling around like a madman and looked down at his hip, where he found Momo's tail sticking out of his handbag. Still not fully convinced, the boomerang-wielding teen grabbed the Winged Lemur by the scruff of the neck and held him close to his face, as if checking whether if it was really him or not. After a minute, he smiled and began to pet Momo affectionately, acting like he wasn't freaking out a few moments ago. "Awww, poor Momo. I was so worried about you. Try not to get lost again, okay?.. Hey, where did that boat came from?"

"… Let's just go, please,"

Aaaaaaand that was chapter 16. Hope you all liked it.

Well, this chapter wasn't emotional for Shujinko at all. Seriously though, this was bound to happen at some point. With all the stressful crap he's been forced to deal with so far, I thought this was the perfect moment for him to finally let it out. For the record, I'm not trying to bash Aang or to paint his character in a bad light. This episode is extremely emotional for Aang and is one of his angriest moments that we ever get to see. Shujinko, however, was also pissed off, and neither of them were thinking clearly when they got angry at each other. A big chunk of this chapter is dedicated to the thoughts of these two (Shujinko and Aang). I believe it was necessary after Shujinko went as far as to punch Aang.

I want to make something very clear: When Aang says Shujinko would pulverize him in a fight, that's not me trying to aggrandize my OC or anything like it, that's me trying to be as objective as I can. Removing the Avatar State out of the equation (since Aang has little to no control over it at this point in the story), I just can't see a way for Aang to beat Shujinko, or at least I don't find it likely to happen.

Shujinko is more experienced than him and has more tricks up his sleeve than him, but most of all, the average bender from A:TLA simply cannot compete against the average ninja from Naruto in terms of physical attributes. Ninjas are freaking fast, man, and they hit hard too. Even if we don't take into account things such as raw power, weapons, and physical traits, I can easily see Shujinko tricking Aang into lowering his guard (like using the Transformation Jutsu to approach him as Katara, etc) and ending the fight quickly. If that's not enough, Shujinko knows way more battle strategies than him AND has been trained since childhood to fight, including the last eight months he spent training with Kakashi prior to the beginning of this story. Remember, this is just comparing Shujinko to Aang without the Avatar State, which would give Aang a much better winning chance. If you're still not convinced by this, I don't know what else to tell you.

So yeah, these two rants I just went on are meant to establish that I'm not trying to make Aang look either weak or unjustifiably angry. I hope I made both these things clear.

Food pills also made an appearance in this chapter lol. Since both ninjas and benders are human beings, I don't see why food pills wouldn't work on benders or nonbenders. Also, I have no idea whether if eating half a food pill would give a person half the total energy and half the total drawbacks is accurate or not (it certainly isn't canon as far as I know), but I thought it made enough sense. What do you guys think? Oh, and please let me know if you enjoyed my portrayal of drunk Sokka lol.

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Peace!