CHAPTER 25: INVITATIONS, INFILTRATIONS, AND INTRODUCTIONS (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 ON "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

Ten minutes after the start of the conversation, Shujinko was dumbfounded.

"The people of Ba Sing Se are forbidden from mentioning the war against the Fire Nation and anything related to it…," he mused, failing to make heads or tails about what he had just been told. "That is… That is absolutely insane. What is that law for? What does it even accomplish?"

"Nothing, or at least nothing good," Aang responded as the frown lines across his brow became more noticeable. "Our neighbor, the man who informed us about this, warned us to stay clear of the Dai Li. He didn't specify what would happen to us otherwise, but whatever the answer to that is, I suppose it explains why the people who we talked to got so scared and uncomfortable. As soon as the subject of the war was brought up, they'd start dodging our questions and either walked away from us or told us to get lost,"

Feeling a bit lightheaded, the Ozuma took a seat next to Katara and laced his fingers together, spending the next couple of minutes making use of all of his intellect to see if he could find some clarity to this nonsense. There were a couple of things about Ba Sing Se that had struck him as odd, excessive, or counter-intuitive so far. Shujinko had given those things the benefit of the doubt to a larger or lesser degree, but a censorship law of this magnitude deserved no such consideration. It quite simply took the cake.

Scratch that, it took the whole damn bakery.

According to Aang, the neighbor had warned them to stay clear of the Dai Li, which heavily suggested that the Dai Li would take action against those who spoke of the war. However, Joo Dee had explicitly told Team Avatar that the Dai Li was the cultural authority of Ba Sing Se and that its agents were the guardians of all of the city's traditions. The fact that a city had its own "cultural authority" and "tradition guardians" had given Shujinko a bad feeling right from the start, but knowing what he knew now, it alarmed him. The Dai Li agents were supposed to be all about preserving culture and traditions, so why on Earth were they the ones in charge of handling this sort of law enforcement? Had Joo Dee lied to them?

'But if she had, surely Toph would've noticed it thanks to her seismic sense,' Shujinko thought, briefly glancing at his earthbender friend. 'Come to think of it, Toph hasn't detected a single lie ever since we got here, not from Joo Dee or anyone else. Otherwise, she would've told us by now. Maybe what Joo Dee told us about the Dai Li was the truth… just not all of it,'

Then there was the law in question. Assuming that the Earth King was the equivalent of a Feudal Lord in terms of legislative powers, the law could've been put in place either by the current ruler or one of his predecessors since the war against the Fire Nation had been going on for quite some time. Whatever the case was, King Kuei had to be aware of said law, meaning that he was complicit in its existence if not directly responsible for it. Still, that didn't explain what benefit was gained or what loss was prevented by not allowing citizens to mention the war. Aside from being pointless, such a measure seemed far more detrimental than favorable from Shujinko's perspective. It was as if the Crown was deliberately working against its subjects.

"This might sound strange, but-"

"Hold that thought, there's something that needs to be addressed first," Toph interrupted him. "Shujinko, I get that you need silence in order to concentrate, but from here on out, would you mind giving us a heads-up before you start your thinking process? Because it catches the rest of us off guard and it's kinda weird having to stay quiet at random just for you,"

Shujinko blinked three consecutive times. "What are you… I don't… It's not like I do it all the time,"

…

"… Well…" Katara trailed off.

"... If you ask us…" Aang followed.

"… You kinda do," Sokka finished awkwardly.

Exposed and outnumbered, the Chūnin let out an exasperated sigh, knowing he had no choice but to concede. "I didn't know it was such a big deal to you guys, but fine, I'll try to work on it. Now that we got that out of the way, may I please continue?" he asked, to which Toph responded by flashing him a cheeky grin while making the 'ok' hand gesture. "As I was saying, this might sound strange, but I don't think the Earth King is or wants to be our ally. At the very least, he's not the class of ally we were hoping for,"

…

"Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you're saying, Shujinko, but don't you think that's a bit of a reach?" Katara asked, her facial expression conveying utmost skepticism. "It's true that the Earth King hasn't been very… receptive. Ideally, we would've already warned him about the eclipse by now. However, that doesn't mean he's an enemy or anything like that. The Earth Kingdom has been fighting against the Fire Nation since the beginning,"

Aang nodded in agreement. "That's right. In fact, not long before meeting you, we bumped into a General of the Earth Kingdom Army. His name was Fong, and he wanted me to face the Fire Lord without delay. He was convinced that I could end the war already and that I didn't need to learn all four elements, just to use the power of the Avatar State. We… had a disagreement and decided to go our separate ways, but Katara's point still stands. I don't see why the Earth King wouldn't want to join forces with us,"

"Exactly, so why hasn't he?" Toph interjected, getting into a sitting position with her knees spread open and one leg underneath the other. "The Earth King knows we're here, and I doubt he has forgotten about the drill incident, yet he still doesn't feel like a meeting with us is in order. He doesn't even allow his own people to talk about the war. Ally or not, you gotta admit that's not a good look for him,"

"And while we're on the subject, there's another detail that's worth pointing out," Sokka said as he furrowed his brow and placed his arms in front of his chest. "When we asked Joo Dee about our request to see King Kuei, she said that it would take the Court of Public Petitions six to eight weeks to reach a verdict. For all we know, that verdict might not be in our favor, and if that ends up being the case, we'll have lost plenty of our valuable time for nothing. We can't afford that to happen,"

"I might be completely off the mark, but attending the circumstances, that waiting period of six to eight weeks seems rather shady to me," Shujinko commented before he removed the ring on his head and undid his bun, setting his hair free. "What if it was done on purpose? What if King Kuei is just stalling for time?"

"Why would he stall for time? We're not here to cause trouble, we're here to join forces,"

"Maybe he doesn't quite see it that way. Let me put it like this: Had we been told that the Earth King doesn't want to grant us an audience, we would've taken matters into our own hands right away. Knowing us, we probably would've broken into his palace demanding to see him. However, by telling us that the Court of Public Petitions is processing our request and us agreeing to wait, we are kept off of King Kuei's back for the time being. I'm just spitballing here, but given what we know so far about Ba Sing Se and King Kuei, it could explain why we're in this position,"

"Honestly, even though I don't necessarily agree with Shujinko, what he's saying doesn't sound too farfetched to me," Sokka replied as the rest of Team Avatar turned to him. "Judging by how things are going for us, I don't think that being patient will change our luck for the better. Whatever King Kuei is plotting, the only way we'll get any answers at all is if we talk to him face to face. No more Court of Public Petitions, no more due process, no more Joo Dee. From here on, we play by our own rules and worry about the consequences later, just like we've always done,"

Toph nodded with a smirk as she made a fist and smacked the open palm of her other hand. "Finally, that's what I wanted to hear. If you ask me, we should pay the Earth King a social call, the kind of social call where we barge in and don't leave until we get what we came for. I'm not saying we need to make a huge mess in the process, just enough of a mess to find the guy and finally have a word with him, that's all. Think of it as the cost of doing business, and it's the king's fault for avoiding us in the first place,"

"I disagree. Just because we have to take action doesn't mean we should resort to violence right away," Aang quickly countered. "Besides, we need the Earth King's support to win the war, and I doubt he'd be willing to lend us any if we smash his palace to the ground or harm any of his soldiers. Doing that sort of thing wouldn't paint us in a good light,"

"What's your plan then, Twinkletoes? Should we knock politely on his door until he lets us in? Good luck with that,"

"Obviously, that would never work, but Aang is right. If for whatever reason the Earth King believes we're up to no good, then we have to act in a way that makes him change his opinion about us instead of reinforcing his warped perception," Katara said in a decisive tone of voice, only to drop the confident look on her face seconds later. "… Not that I know exactly how we should proceed with that in mind,"

As the room fell quiet once again, the Chūnin waited for his friends to make a suggestion or bring forth a proposal, though it soon became clear that no member of Team Avatar had any idea of how to navigate across these uncertain waters they had found themselves in. After a while, prolonging the silence felt utterly pointless, so Shujinko decided to end the conversation the best way he could. "We'll figure it out eventually. In the meantime, let's keep searching for Appa. This has only been our second day in Ba Sing Se; we've got time,"

|Meanwhile, General Sung's office|

One of the perks of being a high-ranking officer was that rarely did anyone ask you to state your business. Even better, as a fully-fledged General, no one else in the army had the nerve or the authority to question Sung regarding his affairs, save for his peers in the Council of Five. Although it did stroke Sung's ego to some degree, said level of independence and privacy served a higher purpose, especially now that the winds of change were blowing harder than ever.

With the help of a bronze oil lamp, Sung was sitting at his desk reading a thick, dusty old book about the most notorious military campaigns that had ever taken place in the history of the Earth Kingdom. In reality, he wasn't doing much reading at all, just casually glancing at random paragraphs and turning the pages over every once in a while, drawing silly doodles on a piece of parchment with his other hand to keep himself minimally entertained. If one of his underlings requested permission to enter his office, Sung would put the parchment aside before letting them in, pretending to be absorbed in his lecture and acting slightly miffed at the interruption.

Just then, somebody knocked on his door, prompting Sung to reenact the charade. "Come in," the General said out loud, quickly grabbing the history book and furrowing his brow in deep concentration. He waited until the visitor was standing in front of his desk before lifting his gaze, meeting the eyes of a common guard. "What is it, soldier? I am rather occupied at the moment,"

"My apologies, sir. I didn't mean to disturb you at this late hour," the guard replied as he greeted his superior with a bow and a hand salute, taking a brief pause to scan his surroundings. Detecting no other presence in the room, he stopped bowing and stared at the General with a serious look on his face. "I'm here on behalf of a certain friend of ours,"

For a split second, Sung's eyes widened in surprise, and even though he knew the two of them were alone, he couldn't help but look around just to be sure. "Is that so? In that case, could you please pass me the salt?"

Upon hearing the code phrase, the soldier reached for his pocket and placed some money on the General's desk: Three copper coins, two silver coins, and one gold piece. Sung slid the copper and silver pieces across the table, letting them fall on the palm of his left hand. Then, he took the gold piece with his other hand and held it between his thumb and index finger. Unlike the coins, the gold piece was a decoy, a finely carved piece of wood coated with a layer of paint similar to the color of the precious metal. At first glance, the object could easily pass off as real money, but it was easy to tell the difference once it was held as the wooden decoy was considerably lighter than a genuine gold piece.

Only when he verified the gold piece's authenticity (or lack thereof) was Sung able to breathe a little easier, for he now had confirmation that he was speaking with one of his people. "What a relief. I was beginning to think nobody would come. All this anxiety is bad for my heart,"

"Sir, our friend in common wishes to know if you secured the cargo,"

"Yes, yes, it's right here," Sung proceeded to flip through the pages of the history book in front of him until he came across an envelope he himself had neatly tucked inside, which he then handed it over to the soldier so that he could inspect its content. "Before you ask, those are all I could get my hands on, and I had to go to great lengths to get this many on such short notice. Our friend in common should be more than pleased with this,"

The soldier nodded in understanding, carefully slipping the envelope into the inside of his uniform. "Everything has been arranged, sir. Another friend of ours will deliver the cargo tomorrow morning,"

"Good, good. Anything else I should be made aware of?" Sung asked, receiving a slow, negative shake of the head in reply. "Then I'm officially done for the day. You are dismissed,"

Once he was left alone, the General sunk in his chair and let out a sigh. Brief as they usually were, these semi-clandestine meetings always made him feel weary and nervous, and for good reason.

If anyone outside his inner circle were to find out about them, or worse, divulge them to the wrong person, the consequences could be downright disastrous. Such risks warranted the implementation of security measures and code terms known only to those who were in on the plan, but even then, one could never be too sure. A single moment of carelessness had the potential to undo everything that Sung and his collaborators had worked for, and he would be damned if it all came crashing down due to an oversight of his.

Taking a few breaths in, Sung managed to calm down, telling himself that he had done his job. For now, all that was left to do was to wait for the fish to take the bait.

|The next morning|

"Guys, you're not gonna believe this!"

Upon hearing Katara's voice, Shujinko, who was just about to eat a fresh slice of mango, put down his chopsticks. Team Avatar was having breakfast when the waterbender stepped outside to check the mailbox, returning not only with an open envelope in her hands, but also jubilant for some reason. "Please tell me that what you got there is a message from the king saying he wants to talk,"

"I'm afraid not, but it's the next best thing," Katara replied with a big smile, taking out of the envelope one of three gaudy cards of pale green color that reminded the Ozuma of those wedding invitations his parents received every now and then. "Check this out:"

To the recipient of this letter:

You are cordially invited to the royal event hosted by His Highness the King, which is set to take place at the palace in three days' time.

All attendees will be required to show this letter at the entrance without exception.

His Highness the King will grace us with his presence during this formal occasion as we foregather to…

Katara suddenly stopped reading before she could finish the sentence and raised one of her eyebrows. "… Huh, now this is odd,"

"Why? What does it say?" Aang asked, to which the daughter of Hakoda cleared her throat.

…To celebrate the tenth birthday of Bosco, his pet bear.

…

"… Pet bear? As in, his pet Platypus Bear?"

"Nah, it's probably an Armadillo Bear,"

"Or a Gopher Bear,"

"I have no idea; it simply says… 'bear'," Katara replied hesitantly, as if she was trying to pronounce a complex word in a foreign tongue for the first time. "My guess is that whoever wrote this forgot to add a word and didn't bother to do a spell check. That's gotta be it, right?"

"Alright, that's enough. I'm calling you guys out," Shujinko announced in a serious tone of voice that took the rest of Team Avatar by surprise. "Seriously, the creatures in this part of the world are absolutely absurd. How is it that you have plenty of Skunk Bears, Gopher Bears, and Cow Bears or whatever, but don't know what an actual bear is? That's like having water bottles without knowing either what water is or what bottles are. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Can somebody please explain to me what the deal with the animals around here is?"

Several glances were exchanged between the Avatar, the Blind Bandit, and the Water Tribe siblings, none of them sure of how to respond. As much as they tried to understand what their friend was so confused about, it all just sounded like a load of balderdash. After a while, it was Sokka who finally broke the silence. "Don't be ridiculous, Shujinko. There's no such thing as Cow Bears… At least not that I'm aware of,"

"So there are a lot of 'bears' in the Land of Fire, then?" the waterbender asked tentatively. "What are they like?"

"I wouldn't say there are a lot of them, but they aren't uncommon either. They're these big, four-legged mammals with fur, claws, and snouts. Most of them live in dens and try to avoid humans, though they might attack if they're hungry or feel threatened. I've seen bears from afar a few times. They eat a ton of food, they love honey, and if I have my facts right, they apparently sleep all through the winter. That's what hunters have told me anyways,"

"Shujinko, with all undue respect, you live in a very, very weird part of the world if that's the sort of animals you can find there," Toph declared while she raised an eyebrow. "Then again, I shouldn't expect more from a place where people turn ice into cream and eat it. I still can't get over that,"

"Maybe it's not as weird as we might think it is," Aang said. "This one time, Sokka and Katara were running a high fever. The lady that gave me the medicine they needed had a pet. It was this small ball of fluff with whiskers and pointy ears. I'd never seen an animal like that before, and when I asked her about it, she said it was a 'cat'. Are there 'cats' in the Hidden Leaf Village, Shujinko?"

The Chūnin scoffed. "Way too many if you ask me. In fact, when I was starting out as a recently graduated Genin, some of my first missions consisted of going around finding lost cats. My teammates and I had to catch them and return them to their owners, and even if it took us the entire day to do it, we got paid peanuts for our efforts. You have no idea how badly I wanted to grab those slippery spawns by the neck and…" Before he could go into detail about his preferred method of torture for felines, Shujinko stopped himself after noticing the disturbing stares he was getting from his friends before awkwardly coughing into his fist. "Long story short, yes, there are cats in my village. Dogs too, and they're far better companions than cats. My sensei has a whole pack of them to help him out, though those are specially trained ninja dogs, not regular ones,"

Upon hearing this, Sokka's face acquired a pensive expression as he placed his index finger between his nose and his upper lip while his thumb went right under his chin. "In the South Pole, we have Polar Bear Dogs. I suppose they're the closest thing to the dogs in your village that I can think of. What kind of help can ninja dogs provide?"

"They're excellent trackers in general, but they serve other purposes as well. For example, one of my sensei's dogs is called Pakkun and-"

"Wait, did you say Pakku?" Katara asked with a look of surprise on her face, thinking how coincidental it was that the dog of Shujinko's sensei happened to have the same name as her Waterbending teacher from the Northern Water Tribe.

Shujinko shook his head. "Not Pakku, Pakkun. Anyways, while Pakkun isn't suited for combat, he's quick on his paws and he has an extremely developed sense of smell, so Kakashi-sensei usually asks Pakkun to deliver messages for him. He's very useful to have around, though I don't always get along with him. He has a big mouth for a dog of his size and also tends to state the obvious. Other than that, I suppose he's alright,"

…

"Big mouth? Tends to state the obvious?" the airbender of the group asked, visibly perplexed. "I'm sorry, but that seems to imply that your sensei's pet can actually… talk,"

"Of course he can. Otherwise, how would I know about what I just criticized Pakkun for? I wouldn't be able to understand him if he simply barked all the time. I'm not an Inuzuka or anything,"

…

…

…

"Let me get this straight. Where you're from, animals can comprehend and speak the human language, yet somehow, from your point of view, the creatures in this part of the world are bizarre and make no sense at all. Is this correct or am I, and I seriously hope this is the case, getting it wrong?"

"… I-I mean, it's not as if every single one of them is able to. That'd be insane," the Ozuma tried to clarify. "The huge majority of animals in the shinobi continent don't talk like human beings. Only a few, like Pakkun or Guy-sensei's tortoise. Lord Jiraiya can summon talking toads as well, though I haven't seen him do it myself, and according to my friend Sakura, Lady Tsunade has a… Look, we're getting off track here and it's pointless to keep arguing. The bottom line is, the animals here are weird. There, I said my piece, now can we discuss the topic we should be focusing on?"

…

Toph's response to that could've just as easily come from anyone else in the room. "Am I the only one who forgot what were we talking about before?"

|The next day, Royal Palace courtyard|

Even though he was trespassing on the palace grounds, an act that would undoubtedly get him in a world of trouble should he get caught, Sokka wasn't exactly feeling the adrenaline he thought he'd experienced at the beginning of this "reconnaissance operation", as Shujinko had put it.

The idea sounded thrilling on paper: Infiltrate the Royal Palace, scout the physical layout of the place from a hiding position, spot as many guards as possible while also keeping track of their movements as they made their rounds, take note of any ingress/egress points within the perimeter, and gather every single morsel of information available through observation and subterfuge tactics. Basically, it was the closest thing to a shinobi mission that the son of Hakoda would ever get to participate in, and as such, his expectations were high, higher than they should've been. He even asked if they could use the secret codenames "Boomerang" and "Shuriken" to address each other, a suggestion that the Chūnin promptly rejected.

Said refusal didn't dampen Sokka's spirit, however. Their mission began as soon as they arrived at the outskirts of the palace, where access to the public was off-limits. With the Ozuma's expertise and sharpened senses, the two members of Team Avatar managed to sneak past the entrance and into the courtyard undetected, with Sokka following his friend close enough to be his shadow. To get there, they had to crawl, climb, and sprint their way across the palace grounds. In case of doubt, Shujinko would move first and signal the boy from the Southern Water Tribe to go next once it was safe. As they advanced, Sokka couldn't help but fantasize about what he was doing, imagining he was a hardened soldier crossing enemy lines in an unspeakably dangerous mission.

Sadly for him, his self-indulgent fantasy would soon come to an end. As they ventured further into the courtyard, Shujinko and Sokka reached a row of bronze statues placed next to a path that lead to the entrance of the main building, facing an identical row on the other side of the path. They positioned themselves in the middle of the left row between the trefoil-shaped plinths of two statues where they'd be less likely to get caught. Once their position had been secured, Sokka asked what they were supposed to do now, to which Shujinko answered:

"I'm gonna go take a closer look. You stay here and find out as much as you can about this place, but don't do anything to expose yourself. I'm counting on you, Sokka," The Ozuma then created two shadow clones that would help him get the job done faster and more effectively. Shujinko and his clones proceeded to change their appearance through the use of Ninjutsu, becoming three completely different individuals.

The Chūnin transformed himself into a boy with dark brown shorts and a beige-colored shirt, with bandages wrapped around his right arm and leg. His hair was long enough to mistake him for a girl, but that was nothing compared to his eyes: They were of an extremely light lavender tone and had no distinguishable pupils whatsoever, almost as if they were completely blank. The first clone had turned into a girl, which surprised Sokka even more. She wore a pair of dark blue pants and a pink, sleeveless blouse. Her brown hair was done in two buns on her head with short fringe bangs framing her face. The only thing the two of them had in common was their headbands, almost identical to the one Shujinko used to wear at first.

The second clone transformed into a guy… A rather weird-looking guy in Sokka's opinion. His bowl cut hairstyle was so slick and shiny that it seemed to reflect the sunlight. As if that weren't enough, he also had the thickest, bushiest, most dense eyebrows Sokka had ever seen in his life. His choice of apparel wasn't any less extravagant, wearing what the boy from the Southern Water Tribe could only describe as a dark-green, single-piece suit made of polyester that was way tighter than it needed to be. Sokka was no leading authority on the subject of fashion, but even so, he had a hard time believing that someone could don an outfit so shamelessly unappealing and see nothing wrong with it.

Now wearing the skin of Neji Hyūga, Shujinko explained to his friend that there was a chance the guards might spot them whether they were careful or not. If that were to happen, the Transformation Jutsu would prevent the guards from witnessing Shujinko and his true appearance, thus annulling the risk of getting recognized by them in the future. It was a simple countermeasure in case things went south. Furthermore, one of his clones was to stay by Sokka's side while the Ozuma and his other clone explored the place. That way, if the son of Hakoda was discovered before Shujinko arrived, his clone would get him out of the palace grounds as quickly as possible.

Since he didn't want to risk getting arrested and later hauled off to the dungeons, Sokka consented to the arrangement. Sadly for him, however, the clone that Shujinko had chosen to keep him company wasn't the pretty girl with the hair buns, but the guy with hairy caterpillars for eyebrows instead. Before he had time to protest this decision, the Chūnin took off along with his other shadow clone, leaving a disgruntled Sokka behind under the protection of Clone Lee.

000

|Three hours later|

"Heads up. The boss is back," Clone Lee said all of a sudden, causing Sokka to put down his spyglass and raise an eyebrow at him.

"The boss?"

"That'd be me," Sokka let out a little shriek as he dropped his spyglass and fell flat on his butt, his heart beating like crazy. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Shujinko crouching behind him, no longer disguised as the prodigious Taijutsu user of the Hyūga clan. "My shadow clones insist on calling me 'boss'. They do it so that the other clones don't get confused whenever there are more of us around. It's a little embarrassing, but at least it's done for a purpose,"

Huffing in indignation, Sokka snatched his spyglass out of the Chūnin's hand. "Good grief, what's the deal with you ninjas? Do you always sneak up on people or is it just you?"

"Sorry about that. I didn't think I was gonna catch you so off-guard," he apologized, though the boy from the Southern Water Tribe merely scoffed at him. Shujinko then turned to his transformed shadow clone. "Do you have anything to report?"

Clone Lee shook his head. "Not much has changed since you left, boss. So far, barely a handful of soldiers have gotten somewhat close to our position, and none of them stuck around for very long. The only close call we had was when a supply wagon broke down near us and people came to fix it, but that's about it,"

"I see. Well, off you go now. I'll take it from here," the Chūnin replied. Clone Lee nodded in understanding and gave him a brief military salute right before turning into smoke in the air, to which Sokka pinched the bridge of his nose.

In spite of all the time he had spent alongside Shujinko, it still wasn't easy for Sokka to accept the fact that somewhere in the world, there were individuals who could make replicas of themselves and interact with them as if they were regular human beings. Moreover, those same individuals were also capable of standing on bodies of water without sinking and altering their physical appearance at will. At this point, even though watching it happen wasn't as shocking as it once was, he doubted he'd ever get fully used to it.

Suddenly, a frown began to crease the Ozuma's brow as he took the spot his shadow clone had previously occupied. "What's up with those guys over there?"

"Care to be more specific? There's a whole bunch of people milling about," the son of Hakoda said, to which Shujinko grabbed his friend's spyglass and pointed it to where he wanted Sokka to look at. He then proceeded to activate his Kekkei Genkai and focused on enhancing his range of view as much as he could, magnifying his vision just as if he were staring through the lenses of a telescope. This neat trick he was using wasn't precisely a Senjutsu-based technique, but rather an inherent feature of the Karura Tensei that derived from the hawks' remarkable eyesight, eight times more acute than that of an ordinary human. "… Wait, I think I see them,"

With his left eye glued to his spyglass, Sokka fixed his gaze on a posse of men that happened to be making their way across the courtyard in a square formation. Four of those men were Dai Li agents, and at the center of their formation, the fifth individual that comprised the group walked among them.

Said individual was a man of relatively small stature and body frame, though the stern expression on his face was one that commanded respect and wielded hierarchy. Like many other high-ranking government officials, he wore a dark green tunic underneath a black robe, though his looked particularly sumptuous. He had a Fu Manchu mustache and beard that somewhat complimented his queue haircut, only a short ponytail coming off the top back of his shaved head. Despite the distance that separated them, both Shujinko and Sokka could smell the slight scent of authority emanating from the man's presence, warning them to stay on their guard.

"That's odd," Sokka commented. "I've seen plenty of Earth Kingdom soldiers so far, but these are the first Dai Li agents to set foot here,"

Shujinko furrowed his brow, his eyes slowly growing sore due to the strain that augmenting his range of vision caused. "Not to mention, the man that's with them seems to be of great importance, enough to be escorted by four Dai Li agents. He's walking around unimpeded and unfettered, so those agents are probably his personal guards or something. What do you think, Sokka? Could he be the Earth King?"

"Since we have no idea what King Kuei looks like, maybe that's him alright. But if so, where's his crown? Aren't kings supposed to wear those things all the time?"

"I'm afraid you're asking the wrong person. The closest thing to a king that we have in the Land of Fire is the Feudal Lord, and just like the Earth King, I've never seen him before. Even so, whoever this guy is, he's clearly associated with the Dai Li, meaning that we should watch out for him from here on," A few seconds after he finished talking, a pre-processed influx of visual and auditory information surged within Shujinko's brain, making the Chūnin wince a little. "My other clone has just dispelled. That's our cue to leave,"

"'He?' Don't you mean 'she?' That was a girl your clone transformed into, right?" Sokka asked. Before the brown-haired boy had time to respond, he was caught off guard by another question, one that was unwittingly more complicated to answer. "Who was she, anyway? One of your friends from the Hidden Leaf Village?"

"… W-well, yes and no. Her name is Tenten. She's a friend of mine, but she's also my… We used to… Never mind. Let's just get out of here before someone catches us,"

|Early evening, Golden Dream District|

After successfully getting in and out of the Royal Palace unnoticed, the Chūnin and the son of Hakoda returned to their place of domicile, where they started working on the less-thrilling part of their recognizance operation: The planning.

With the visual information he had gathered from his clones, Shujinko got a hold of a few sheets of paper, some black ink, and a brush, using them to draw a rough sketch of the palace grounds from an overhead perspective as accurately as he could. The Ozuma had never been very skilled in the art of drafting and he only had his memory to go by, but considering the size of the place and the short amount of time he spent there, the ending result of his artistic labor was one he deemed decent enough. Sokka assisted him by providing structural details of the entrance and the courtyard, making the design a bit more elaborated and precise.

Once the ink of the draft had dried, the golden-eyed boy grabbed a thinner brush and, with red ink this time, proceeded to mark all the spots that could be used to gain access to the king's residence. It was a complicated task based mostly on hunches, predictions, and conjecture. Shujinko would've preferred to wait and visit the Royal Palace at least twice before doing this, but planning an undercover mission required a lot of thought to be put into it. Most importantly, it required time.

He couldn't infiltrate the palace and develop a strategy simultaneously, and he didn't want to send more of his shadow clones to study the physical layout of the place and accidentally wind up low on chakra right as the party was about to start. Situations like these were the ones in which the Transformation Jutsu was probably his most valuable asset, and should he be forced to use it at any given moment during Bosco's birthday, he would need to save up his chakra beforehand in order to keep the technique running. Only Kami knew how the party attendees would react watching a person suddenly bursting into a cloud of smoke and coming out of it looking completely different.

To put it briefly, Shujinko was trying his best not to screw this up.

"Are you sure we can't enter the palace through here?" the boy from the Southern Water Tribe asked, tapping his finger at one of the edges of the palace that Shujinko had marked in his drawing. "You said it yourself: We don't have a lot of options and we gotta get in there quick. If we can make it to the balcony below, the rest shouldn't be so hard,"

The Ozuma took a few minutes to reconsider the idea and ended up shaking his head. "It's not worth it. In practical terms, it might be the most accessible spot for us, but it's also way too exposed. The guards wouldn't even need to get close before they discover us. I could probably pull it off going in there alone, but since we're doing this together…"

Sokka didn't need to hear the last of that sentence to know where Shujinko was going with this. To a ninja like him, getting in and out of a place guarded by mere soldiers was no big deal. It was Sokka's inclusion that made everything more complicated, for unlike the Chūnin, he was incapable of jumping over walls and running as swiftly as the wind. He knew it wasn't his fault, but even so, he still felt guilty for forcing Shujinko to adjust their plan to accommodate him. "What about a distraction?" he suggested. "You could have one of your clones make a scene while we slip past security. We managed to get into the courtyard just fine today, so we should be able to make our way through with the help of a little diversion,"

"I thought the same thing, but then I realized we run the risk of getting the event canceled by accident. The guards might think that the palace is under attack and their first reaction will be to take the Earth King someplace safe, as well as kick every guest out of the party. In the end, we'd just be boycotting ourselves, and I very much doubt we'll get another opportunity like this,"

"… Now that you mention it, it does sound like a dicey move," Sokka conceded. "Is that option completely off the table though?"

"Not until we figure out a better one. For now, let's make it our backup plan as we try to come up with something else. I was thinking maybe we could-" Just then, the door that led to the boys' dormitories opened. Aang stepped into the lounging room, and as soon as he raised his gaze, a small smirk of amusement spread across the Chūnin's face.

Instead of his usual attire, the Avatar was wearing a brand-new set of clothes that didn't exactly scream 'poverty vow'. The outfit was mostly comprised of a white robe underneath a light-green sleeveless tunic, both with gold trimmings, a dark-green sash belt, and a white turban that covered the arrow tattoo on his forehead. Just like Shujinko, Aang had done a complete 180 in the looks department, a change that the airbender was clearly not comfortable with.

"Do I really need to go to the party like this?" Aang asked with a grimace, fidgeting in his new garments like an agitated child. "I'd feel a lot better if I could just meet the Earth King with my regular clothes,"

It wasn't that his outfit was lacking in fashion or made it hard for him to move. While not as unconstrained or as light as his typical Air Nomad robes, these new clothes were fairly smooth and soft to wear (except for the turban, which was pressing against his ears and made his bald scalp itch). However, going around dressed as a wealthy noble was rather awkward for Aang given his monastic upbringing and simplistic lifestyle. In his opinion, wearing outfits such as the one he had on was unnecessarily extravagant, an empty display of materialism. Perhaps karma was getting back at him for laughing at Shujinko the night he presented himself before them in his fancy new Earth Kingdom attire.

"Sorry Aang, but this is a formal affair," the Ozuma replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Out of all of us, it's crucial that you get to speak with the Earth King at the party, so you gotta look the part. Plus, it's only for one night. I'm sure you can put up with it,"

Sokka nodded in agreement. "Yup, and besides, it's not like you have it harder than us. You and the girls get to enter the palace with the carpet rolled out for you. Shujinko and I will be the ones sneaking our way into the party, and we still don't know for sure how to go about it,"

In response, the Avatar crossed his arms in front of his chest and diverted his gaze, his facial features wrinkling into a frowny pout. "That's not fair. Sneaking into the party sounds way more fun," he said. Shujinko took a deep breath and exhaled through his nostrils, opting to remain silent.

It vexed him how Aang was missing the point: Nothing about what they were doing right now was supposed to be fun. That was another reason why Aang going to the party as an official guest was a safer option, though Shujinko had no intention to tell him that as it would likely hurt the airbender's feelings. "By the way, where are Toph and Katara?" the Ozuma asked in an attempt to switch the topic. "I know they went looking for dresses to wear at the party, but it's getting kinda late,"

"Toph said that Katara needed to learn the proper manners of a high-society lady if she wanted to blend in with the party guests and that she was going to take Katara to the Joy Gardens to teach her the basics. They'll probably be here soon," Aang responded. "According to Toph, Katara might be able to pull it off, but the other attendees would recognize me right away. Her advice for me was to keep my mouth closed at the party and to avoid eye contact with anyone aside from us. It sucks, but Toph grew up in a wealthy family, so she must know what she's talking about,"

|Elsewhere at midnight|

Azula's nostrils were flaring like an incensed Gemsbok Bull.

The drill was the single most expensive and well-equipped machine the Fire Nation had ever produced, having spent nigh uncountable resources building it from scratch, improving it, testing it, and making sure it ran like clockwork. Fire Lord Ozai had given War Minister Qin free rein on the enterprise, handing him all the funds he had requested and assigning as many workers as it took to get it done. Due to this, several other projects were put on hold or straight up canceled in favor of the construction of the drill, which was finally finished after the better half of a decade. During all those years, Qin insisted that the drill was going to be the ultimate weapon of the Fire Nation and that the mighty capital of the Earth Kingdom would be incapable to stop it.

All that big talk, all that hubris, all the time, financial backing, and human capital that had gone into it… only for the Fire Nation to be dealt its biggest defeat since the Siege of the North.

Not was the drill unable to pierce through the walls of Ba Sing Se, but it also got destroyed in the process. In less than a day, the so-called ultimate weapon of the Fire Nation became a giant corpse of quartered metal beyond repair, just as useful as a battleship in the desert. It was up to Azula, the only one who made it out of there along with Mai and Ty Lee, to deliver the news to the Fire Lord via messenger hawk, yet her shame was so great and her anger so raw that she couldn't bring herself to touch an ink brush despite knowing that her father expected a detailed report about their nation's victory over the capital.

But as humiliating as they both were, the loss of the drill and the failure of their attack weren't the main cause of Azula's ire. After fleeing the battle, the three girls of noble birth rendezvous at a hidden camp in the woods they'd previously set up, Azula being the first one who made it there. The princess of the Fire Nation waited for her companions to show up, and once they did, that was when things really started to go bad for her. In fact, the term "bad" didn't begin to cover it.

Eventually, Mai arrived at the camp sharing saddle with a distraught Ty Lee, who was crying and sobbing. The two of them got off their Mongoose Lizard, and then, to Azula's surprise, the markswoman approached her with an extremely aggravated demeanor, going as far as to interrupt her when she tried to ask what had happened to them.

"We ran into that acquaintance of yours, the one named Shujinko Ozuma. It seems that you left out a lot of things about that boy when you described him, important things that you should've told us. Care to explain yourself?"

…

"That boy isn't normal, Azula! You downplayed him to us that night at your tent, but we saw what he's capable of! He held Ty Lee at knifepoint and threatened to kill her on the spot. Had our luck been slightly worse, he would've gone through with it and I would've been next. Why weren't you honest about the kind of threat he was from the start? Did you think that information wasn't important enough to share with us? What's wrong with you?"

…

"I don't know how or where those twerps found a guy like him, but as long as Shujinko is with them, we can't go after the Avatar. You know that as well as I do and don't try to deny it. If you want to tempt your own luck, be my guest. But don't drag me or Ty Lee along with you,"

…

Just thinking about it was maddening. Shujinko Ozuma, that impudent, lowly commoner scum from who knows where, had done something that Azula could neither ignore nor forget, and much less forgive: He had stolen her authority and control over Mai and Ty Lee by making them fear him more than they did her, to the point where those two were now openly defying her word. Never in her life had anybody made a mockery of Azula in such a way, and if her ego was already stabbed from all of this, then her inability to bestow punishment upon the author of that insult was the twisting of the knife.

She had to do something to remedy her situation and fast, but for the first time ever, Azula was unsure of what to do. Ideally, she'd find the culprit and make quick work of him in order to re-establish her dominance and secure her friends' subservience. However, Azula's encounter with Shujinko back in Tu Zin had proven beyond question the caliber of the threat she was facing, and now, to her utter misfortune, Mai and Ty Lee had also gotten a taste of it, which seemed to have shattered their resolve as well as their loyalty towards her. It even made the princess wonder about the possibility of those two running out on her should the opportunity present itself.

In fact, Mai and Ty Lee weren't at the camp right now. By the end of their heated argument, Azula had sent the two girls to retrieve water from a nearby creek, a chore that shouldn't take anybody more than thirty minutes to get it done. A full hour had passed since then and neither one of them had returned yet. Under normal circumstances, the prodigious firebender would've immediately noticed their prolonged absence, but the anger, the frustration, and the monumental stress that was bubbling up inside of her taxed the princess' mental faculties, dulling them little by little.

Azula, who was both fed up with unwanted surprises and in dire need of fresh air, left her tent.

000

A couple of minutes later, Azula was walking by the shore of the creek, keeping her eyes wide open in case Earth Kingdom soldiers or unwanted bystanders happened to be nearby. She was still wearing her Fire Nation garments, and although the veil of the night provided her with some cover, it hardly made for a convincing disguise. It wasn't that she feared for her life or was wary of strangers, but carelessness was a flaw that Azula had no tolerance for. Besides, their camping site was moderately close to Ba Sing Se, and after the Fire Nation's failed attempt at breaching its walls, the soldiers of the capital were sure to be on high alert and wary of strangers.

As she followed the stream of the creek, an infuriating possibility began to take root inside the mind of Ozai's daughter. Could it be that Mai and Ty Lee had decided to leave her for good? Had their encounter with Shujinko frightened them to such a degree? It was more than obvious that someone like Shujinko was capable of killing those two, having spared them either on a merciful whim or to prove a point. Regardless, the broody markswoman and the perky acrobat weren't looking forward to meeting the Ozuma a second time, not now and probably not ever. In her outburst, Mai informed Azula of what was going to happen to them should they run into him again, repeating what Shujinko had said word for word:

"The Avatar is with me… Whatever you and Ty Lee decide to do from here on, know this: If I ever, ever, see the two of you doing anything to place either him or any of our friends in danger, I will kill you both like I should've done five minutes ago… "

Though she wasn't explicitly mentioned in it, Azula was fairly certain that she was included in that warning.

While Azula pondered about her current predicament and what would be her next course of action, she caught sight of something that stole her attention. Further up ahead, two objects were lying on the ground unattended, as if their owner had dropped them along the way without realizing it. After taking a closer look, the princess of the Fire Nation confirmed her suspicions: They were the buckets she had instructed Mai and Ty Lee to fill up with water a while ago.

Finding them like this was anything but a good sign. Had those two truly abandoned their princess? No, that couldn't be the case. The Mongoose Lizards they'd been using for transportation were still at their camp. Had they wanted to leave her behind, they would've used them not only to escape quickly, but also to ensure she wouldn't be able to catch up to them. Going on foot knowing that she was waiting for them to return would be the epitome of idiocy. Maybe they'd been bushwhacked by enemy troops, though Azula was hard-pressed to believe that a bunch of peasant soldiers would be able to get the drop on Mai and Ty Lee even with the element of surprise on their side.

Suddenly, a sound similar to the faded whimpering of a wounded animal reached her ears. As her body tensed, Azula turned to where she believed the noise was coming from, unsure of what to expect but ready to react nevertheless... Or so she thought.

Not far from where she was standing, Mai and Ty Lee were tied to a robust tree with several ropes around their torso, pinned next to each other with gags in their mouths and blindfolds over their eyes. They were desperately trying to scream for help, their bodies squirming as they rubbed the back of their heads against the tree bark in an attempt to remove their blindfolds, all to no avail. No other person was there, as if their captor had decided to walk away after leaving the two girls as they were. It only lasted for an instant, but even so, finding them like this positively stunned Azula, taking her a few seconds to stop gawking and return to her senses.

"Ty Lee! Mai!" the princess exclaimed as she headed towards them, sounding more surprised than alarmed.

Upon recognizing Azula's voice, the circus acrobat and the markswoman both stopped resisting and frantically called out her name, though the gags barely allowed them to release grunts. Once she got to the tree, Azula closed a fist and emitted flames out of the ulnar border of her hand, condensing and shaping them into a small yet fiery blade. Her intention was to unbind her friends by burning through the ropes with a single slice, but just as she was about to do that…

"So, the shepherd has finally found her missing lambs,"

Aaaaaaaand that was chapter 25. Hope you all liked it.

(Warning: Extensive author's note ahead)

This chapter is, in my opinion, unlike any of its predecessors in this story, for better or worse. It basically has almost no action, plenty of dialogue and POVs, a touch of mystery, and ends with a verbal cliffhanger just like the previous chapter. You might think that I went overboard with the number of discussions and conversations I included in this chapter, and perhaps you find them to be boring or too slow. If so, I don't blame you in the least, but before you pass any judgment, please hear me out first:

As much as I enjoy the Ba Sing Se saga of A:TLA, there are certain aspects of it that rub me the wrong way. One of my biggest complaints is the fact that not once did the members of Team Avatar discussed things that ABSOLUTELY warranted a conversation, mainly the "Can't talk about the war" law and the "Earth King doesn't know about the war" thing. These are vital elements of Book 2's plot that should've shocked Team Avatar upon finding out about them, and while they certainly were surprised, we never got to hear as much as a comment from the gang.

That's why tedious as it might be, I include and will keep including scenes where characters do nothing but think and talk, because it simply wouldn't make sense to have them deal with important plot-related situations without addressing them properly. I will also try to build up certain events in a way that hopefully make them seem more realistic than their canon counterparts, such as Shujinko and Sokka sneaking into the palace grounds prior to the party in order to concoct an entry & escape plan. Let's face it: In the original story, Aang and Sokka had a ridiculously easy time sneaking into the royal palace, which should be the safest, most heavily guarded place in Ba Sing Se at least in theory.

Anyways, moving on.

I tried to insert a bit of humor by poking fun at the classic anime trope about characters falling silent and going into long inner monologues as time seemingly slows down for them, something that Shujinko does a lot. Now, while the argument he has with Team Avatar about how the hybrid animals of their world make no sense was done mostly for comedic purposes, it also derives from what I just explained in the previous paragraphs. Sooner or later, Shujinko would feel compelled to (no pun intended) point out the elephant in the room and demand an explanation, completely forgetting the fact that the shinobi world has its fair share of strange creatures… And also, I couldn't resist adding the 'Pakku-Pakkun' part LOL.

You might be wondering why General Sung is acting like some Varys the Spider wannabe all of a sudden (which is still an improvement over his buffoonish canon counterpart if you ask me) and what sort of complot is he involved in. Don't worry, all will be revealed in due time. I'm gonna go on the record here and admit that I shamelessly appropriated the term "friend of ours" from the American Mafia to use it here, given that it fits this particular context and I just think it's a cool term.

We finish this chapter with a scene from Azula's POV. I felt like I had to address how big of a deal the loss of the drill actually was, because realistically, the amount of time, resources, and effort that went into building a machine like that must've been huge. The Fire Nation invested all of that on a weapon that got destroyed before it could do the one thing it was built for in the first place. I can't imagine Ozai hearing about it and being like: "Oh well, we did our best and that's what matters, time to move on from this".

We also caught a glimpse of Mai confronting Azula after her run-in with our esteemed dimension-traveling Chūnin. Even though Azula is the "alpha" of her little group, I can definitely see Mai getting on her face and telling her off for putting their lives at risk by not being honest about Shujinko's power, going as far as to tell her: "If you still wanna do this, you're gonna have to do it alone". I'm no psychologist, but considering the number of sociopathic/anti-social tendencies Azula showed throughout the series, I wouldn't put it past her to double down and refuse to take responsibility for what she did, worrying more about maintaining her dominance than the well-being of her friends.

Lastly, the princess of the Fire Nation is in for another unexpected encounter. Who is it that has approached Azula and how will things pan out for her? Find out in the next installment.

Don't forget to Review, Favorite & Follow

Peace!