Disclaimer: I don't own neither Naruto nor Avatar. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Nickelodeon respectively.
A/N: Yay, it's time for an update! I'm not going to waste your time any more than I have to, but I'd really like to thank Stalker of Stories for being so kind as to having beta read this chapter.
Chapter 05
Yarr! Here there be pirates!
"Okay, Katara. Let me see if I get this straight," said Sokka in a dead pan tone.
The two Water Tribe siblings had just finished stocking up on some supplies a few minutes ago. And, as per their agreement, Sokka was now stuck with carrying the collected load while Katara went through the things that Naruto had told her the night before.
By the looks of it he seemed to take it just as well as someone would have expected him to.
"You're telling me that you believe that Goldilocks is from some kind of other world than ours, am I right?"
"Right."
"You're also saying that in this other world, people use this weird power, called 'chakra', that makes them able to do all sorts of things? Like climbing walls with just their feet, blow stuff up in a variety of flashy ways and summon giant, city stomping monstrosities to do their bidding?"
"Right."
"And a crazy, evil criminal from his home village, who has an unhealthy fascination with snakes, sent him here so that he wouldn't interfere with his big, evil plans?"
During their entire exchange, Sokka had used the same monotone, talking in a way that clearly said; 'you do realize that this sounds completely insane, don't you?'
Katara knew that what Naruto had told her would sound a bit (or rather very) far-fetched to anyone's ears, but she just couldn't help herself but to believe in the blond's words. When she had heard him talk about his home, she hadn't been able to distinguish any deception or trickery in his voice, only the love and happiness the young man seemed to radiate when he talked about the mysterious place which he came from.
There was the possibility that he might not be quite right in the head, but she sincerely hoped that that wasn't the case.
"Right," answered Katara a final time, almost dreading the rant she knew was bound to come any second now. She could already hear her brother go on and on about how naïve and gullible she was to believe in such irrational and crazy nonsense. Or that this was just like the time with Jet, when he had lied about his plan of "saving" that valley from the Fire Nation soldiers that had occupied it, and that she would just end up getting hurt again.
There was a moment of tense silence, during which the two of them did nothing but look at each other as people passed them by.
Finally, after what had felt like an eternity for the girl, Sokka let out a heavy sigh, lightly pinching the bridge of his nose before uttering a single word.
"Sure."
"I knew you wouldn't listen! You're just far too stuck in your own little world to even contemplate the chance of-!" The young Waterbender suddenly silenced herself in the middle of her angry outburst, blinking a couple of times as her mind finally seemed to process what exactly her brother had just said. "Wait, what?"
"I said 'sure.' I believe you," answered Sokka with a shrug before trudging past Katara, carrying the simple bag that contained the stuff they'd bought over his shoulder.
For a couple of seconds, all Katara did was to stand rooted to the spot, silently wondering what had just happened, before she hurried to catch up with her brother. "That's it? No long winded speeches about how insane you think all of this is or that you can't believe how I could ever fall for such a story?"
"Nope."
"Why?" Katara asked as she stopped walking. She was unable to wrap her head around her brother's strange behaviour.
Sokka let out a yet another sigh before he too stopped and turned around to face his sister, who now had confusion written all over her pretty face. "Look, sis, this isn't exactly easy for me to say, but we've been on this little trip of ours for a while now. We've all seen some pretty strange stuff since we went fishing that day and found Aang, basically becoming a big, collective weirdness magnet in the process." Seeing that he had her undivided attention, the young warrior then held up two fingers for what he had to say next, "The way I see it, I have two possible options here. I could call Naruto crazy and try to have him committed to a nut-house or something like that. But judging from my experience, you would just find a way to prove me wrong in the end, making me look like a jackass and having another thing to hold over my head."
He shifted the bag over to his other shoulder and rubbed the back of his neck before continuing. "On the other hand, if I just skip all of that, and instead try, although a fair bit reluctantly mind you, to accept what you've just told me from the start, I'll save us all a lot of time and trouble that could be used for more important matters, like helping Aang master the elements so that he can take out the Fire Lord."
After Sokka had finished, Katara just blinked a couple of times before tilting her head slightly to the side. "Who are you and what have you done to my brother?"
"Ha ha, very funny, Katara," Sokka muttered sarcastically. "But seriously, however strange his claims might be, Naruto is still an okay guy as far as I'm concerned. Weird as hell, but okay. Besides, as I said before, we've all been trough some pretty strange stuff as it is," he said as he raised a hand and started to count down on his fingers. "Just to name a few; one of our closest friends is the latest incarnation of the Avatar, a protector of the world destined to bring balance to it. We're constantly riding a giant bison that defies all the laws of gravity. I was once abducted into the Spirit World by an angry forest spirit. And last but not least, my first girlfriend became the freaking moon!"
The Water Tribe boy's voice had become increasingly louder as he went through all the things that had happened, almost to the point of yelling as he angrily shook his fists at the sky, nearly threatening to drop the bag that contained their newly acquired purchases as people around them gave the siblings odd looks.
After a while he managed to calm down, slumping his shoulders as he let out a heavy sigh. "Why does the universe like to mess with me so much?" Sokka whined as Katara patted him reassuringly on his shoulder.
OoOoOoO
"Anyone know what time it is?" Naruto asked as he took another bite out of his piece of rock candy.
The blond had found himself feeling slightly peckish during their walk around the festival, so the three of them had stopped by a booth that happened to be selling this particular kind of sweets. The corpulent merchant had proudly claimed it to be the best Jennomite that the city of Omashu had to offer. While they looked just like ordinary crystals, only in a myriad of different colours, Naruto was pleasantly surprised to find them rather tasty. The only complaint he had with them was that they seemed to have a tendency to get stuck in his teeth.
"Well, I think it's about time to meet up with Katara and Sokka," answered Aang while at the same time handing Momo what was left of his own piece of the sweet mineral.
"Already? But we haven't even gone through half of this place yet," complained Toph as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Don't worry about it," said the young Airbender with a smile. "We aren't going to leave until tomorrow morning so we still have the whole day to have fun."
"Fine," huffed the blind girl as they started to head back to the point of town where they had split up with Katara and Sokka. "But we'd better not miss out on anything, Twinkle-toes, or else I'll hold you responsible for it."
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at the two pre-teens' antics. He had found himself really enjoying this festival and spending time getting to know his newfound friends.
From what he could tell so far, Aang appeared to be, in many ways, a lot like himself. He seemed to be a happy and fun-loving kid, with a nice sense of humour that made him very easy to talk to and laugh along with. And just like Naruto had been when he was younger (although many people he knew would rightly say that he still was), he was easily distracted by all of the new and exciting things that was going on around them.
Naruto didn't have all that much experience when it came to monks, having only briefly met the imposing warriors dedicated to the teachings of the Fire Temple, but he had quickly deduced that the young boy, with his seemingly carefree attitude, was a completely different kind of monk than those he had met at home.
Toph, on the other hand, like the element she wielded, was much more blunt, something he had found out fairly early on during their time together. From what Naruto had seen, the blind girl was definitely not the kind of person that beat around the bush when she had something she wanted to say.
With that said, it didn't at all mean that she wasn't fun to be around. As she ever so slowly began to ease up around him, she started to show quite a humorous streak of her own. Although her sense of humour seemed to be just a tad bit meaner than Aang's and a lot more physical.
His arm was still a bit sore from when she punched him.
The trio, plus Momo, was now walking by a series of houses that were, unlike H'u Xū's inn, made completely out of rock. When Naruto asked about this, Toph just said that since they were in the Earth Kingdom, it was rather obvious that Earth Benders at some point must have been helping out to create cheap homes for the expanding population. A common and cheap procedure at some places.
It was during this small exchange between the two that Aang abruptly stopped dead in his tracks in front of them. Momo tilted his little head and gave the boy a confused look.
"Hey, is there something wrong, Aang?" Naruto asked while giving the young Avatar a confused look after having walked up to him. For some reason, the younger boy's body had completely stiffened in mid step, almost looking like a human statue.
"...Can't... move...!" Aang managed to say through teeth that were clenched tightly shut, panic being clearly shown in his grey eyes.
The Jinchuuriki furrowed his brow, wondering for a second what was going on with the boy, until he laid his blue eyes on the small dart that was embedded in Aangs left shoulder.
It didn't even take a second for Naruto to realize what was going on, having suffered through a nearly identical experience not too long ago. He immediately tensed up and was just about to try and find out where exactly the dart had come from, when suddenly, a small, brown ball hit the ground by their feet and promptly burst into a cloud of white smoke.
Before they even had time to react, Naruto and Toph nearly doubled over as they inhaled the foul gas. It caused their eyes to burn with tears, their nostrils to sting horribly and their bodies to heave uncontrollably as they were assaulted by cough after cough.
After a moment of feebly trying to clear the air by waving his hands with little to no avail, Naruto got an idea. Raising his shaking arm, he did his best to ignore the pain and to focus his chakra into his hand. With as much concentration as he could offer at the moment, he finally managed to form a Rasengan laced with his own wind natured chakra.
As the spinning white blue orb of energy gave of a low screech in the palm of his hand, the cloud that surrounded him and Toph quickly began to dissipate, making them able to finally breath in a healthy dose of fresh air.
He rubbed the salty tears from his eyes with an angry growl. Momo's shrieks could be heard as the lemur flew around in circles above their heads while the blond seemed to be slowly regaining the use of his senses. He made an attempt to have a quick look around and once he opened his bloodshot eyes, the young shinobi could see the people gathered around them, murmuring worriedly amongst themselves.
But Aang was nowhere to be seen.
Naruto went to help Toph back up onto her feet, but the younger girl merely swatted his hands away, telling him that she was fine and that she could handle herself. "Naruto, some people jumped down from the roof and ran away with Aang," said the young Earthbender after having finally stopped coughing and trying to get her breathing back under control. "I could feel them, but I couldn't stop them!"
The ninja's eyes widened before he quickly turned and pointed at the nearest bystander. "You, there!" Naruto barked. "Did you see where they took off?!"
The poor man raised his hands in a defensive gesture, not wanting to incur the wrath of the angry looking teenager. "That w-way. D-down the street and to the l-left between those buildings over there," he stammered while pointing out the direction he had seen the kidnappers take when they ran past him, nearly knocking him over in the process.
Before the man even had the time to finish, Naruto was already off, closely followed by both Toph and Momo as they sprinted down the designated path. If they hurried they would still be able to catch up with them! They then turned left between the before mentioned buildings and ran down a seemingly deserted pathway, before ending up on a large open, but insanely overcrowded street.
Naruto wanted to scream in frustration. How the hell were they supposed to find the kidnappers among all these people?
Just as the blond was about to dive head first into the crowded mass of people, Toph held her arm out in front of him, effectively keeping him in place. "Don't get your panties in a twist," she stated calmly without even facing him. "I'll handle this one."
The young Earthbender seemed to concentrate for a brief moment, right before she in a swift motion slid her bare feet over the ground outward from her centre, while simultaneously thrusting her open palms out from her sides. In just a second she had cleared a pathway for them, doing so simply by manipulating the top layer of the earth in order to force all the people to the sides.
Well, all people except for four suspicious looking individuals that seemed to be in a whole lot of hurry. The largest of them carrying a bag over his shoulder that seemed to be large enough to contain a certain twelve year old Airbender. After having noticed that it had suddenly become significantly less crowded, the kidnappers slowly turned themselves around and fixed their gazes on the people that had been following them.
The pirate most commonly referred to as "Barker" by his fellow crew-mates (due to his certain knack of drawing in potential customers to their business) scowled at the sight of the two kids that practically oozed trouble.
Everything had gone smoothly, without any unnecessary altercations up until this point. The long haired man and his fellow pirates had silently been stalking the Avatar, making sure to not draw any unwanted attention to themselves. When they first spotted their ticket to living the good life, they realized, to their surprise and glee, that the kid was not in the company of the two Water Tribe siblings that they clearly remembered from their previous encounter.
Instead of the skilled Waterbending girl and boomerang wielding boy, the monk had instead been walking around town with two people they had never seen before. A young girl that appeared to be roughly around the Avatars own age, dressed in traditional Earth Kingdom clothing, and a shirtless teenager with spiky, yellow hair.
It was all so perfect. Once they had made sure that they were out of sight or hearing range, they had struck. Paralysing the Avatar with the stuff that their captain had given them before taking his two buddies out of the equation. Then all they would have to do was grab the kid and run as fast as their legs could carry them.
But now here they were, staring down a couple of snot-nosed brats that should still be lying down, coughing their lungs out. He had made sure to check those damn gas bombs before heading out... But what use was there complaining about it now, really?
"All right. You three keep these kids entertained while I deliver the package to the cap'n," commanded the headband-wearing pirate as he took the bag from his muscular crew mate. He managed to hoist it over his own shoulder without too much effort and started running, only glancing over his shoulder with a grin to say, "But make sure they don't have too much fun."
With that said, the three remaining pirates eased themselves into position and brought out their weapons, preparing themselves for battle. The tallest, and most muscular of the bunch, held a halberd in a tight, two-handed grip without letting a single emotion show on his face. One of his crew mates wasn't nearly as composed, growling angrily and showing off the few teeth that still remained in his mouth while a slight breeze blew through his single tuft of blue hair. In his hands he twirled a pair of daggers, with edges that gleamed threateningly in the sun's light. The last, and also shortest, of the trio had an almost maniacal grin plastered on his face as he showed of his skills with his nunchacku, clearly looking forward to what was to come.
Realizing what was about to happen, most of the surrounding onlookers decided that it was time to get the heck out of there. Some of the braver or more curious people merely took cover behind a booth or something of the like. All so that they would be able to get front row seats of the action that was sure to begin any second now.
"So, how do you want to do this?" Toph asked in a somewhat bored tone while cracking her knuckles.
"Eh?" Naruto answered intelligently as he glanced at the younger girl.
The Earthbender let out a sigh of exasperation. "Which one of these goons do you want to beat up?"
"Actually, I planned to take them all on," replied the blond with a small frown.
"In your dreams!" Toph retorted heatedly. "I've been itching for a fight all day, and I'll be damned if I let you hog all the action for yourself!"
As the two youngsters began bickering amongst themselves, all the three seasoned, battle worn pirates could do was to watch the strange scene unfold before them with clearly bewildered looks on their faces.
"... Hey, Smitty?"
"Yeah?"
"What are them there kids doin'?"
"Looks like they're arguin' to me... No, wait. Now they appear to be playin' rock-paper-scissors."
The blue haired pirate grit his teeth as his left eyebrow twitched violently. He was clearly agitated by the children's obvious disregard of their presence, treating them like they weren't even worth their attention. "Don' you dare take us lightly, ye damn kids!" He roared before he and his comrades sprung into action and attacked with their weapons raised.
Naruto blinked once before his mouth tuned into a toothy grin. He then easily dodged a vicious knife thrust by simply leaning to the side. "Well, I guess we'll just have to share then," he said cheerfully.
What followed next was probably one of the most humiliatingly one sided fights in history. While the three pirates gave it their all, using all their wit and fighting techniques that they had accumulated over the years, the shinobi and the Earthbender just toyed with them.
Toph didn't bat an eye and barely even moved as she dealt with the largest pirate. When he lunged at her with his halberd, she just used the same technique that she'd previously used to move the crowd out of their way, easily making him miss by a large margin.
The muscular pirate had a look of utmost surprise one his face for a good second, before he finally managed to recover and make a second attack. Toph then proceeded with making him go all over the place in a series of quick twists and turns that nearly threw the tall man off balance. She then mercilessly let him spin round and round at the spot for a few seconds, making his face almost take on a sickly green hue, before stomping her foot down onto the ground and raised a pillar of earth directly under the pirate's feet, topping the whole thing off by sending him flying into the air.
He landed roughly a block away from the fight, fortunately having a cart filled to the brim with cabbages present to break his fall.
The cart's owner on the other hand wasn't nearly as pleased, being forced to see his precious vegetables completely squished under the pirate's heavy weight. Despite the distance between them, Naruto and Toph could both clearly hear the man's horrified screams of anguish as he was forced to witness the brutal fate of his goods. "Noooo!! My cabbages!!"
The shortest of the three pirates smirked smugly as he locked eyes his with Naruto. He slowly raised his weapon in front of him, holding a handle in each of his two hands as he yanked the chain a couple of times. His face then suddenly turned serious, right before uttering a shrill, high pitched cry.
He then started swinging his nunchacku in a long series of swift, fluid and extremely flashy motions. His arms were moving so fast that they almost appeared as a blur to an untrained human eye. And all the while he was doing this, he kept on shouting at the top of his lungs in that same grating, high pitched tone.
After doing this non stop for about fifteen seconds he was thankfully finally silenced when Naruto's right fist connected with his face. The pirate instantly dropped like a sack of potatoes, entering a state of blissful unconsciousness without even having landed as much as a single hit on the blond shinobi. Or even attempting to land a hit for that matter.
"Damn, will you just shut up!" Naruto roared at the knocked out man as a bulging vein pulsated at his temple. "It's freaking annoying!"
Naruto was then brought back to the present situation when he was forced to dodge a new knife attack, courtesy of the last pirate that remained standing after his comrades had both lost. The blue haired man snarled, with rage burning in his eyes as the blond just kept avoiding all his advances, seemingly dancing around his every move with ease.
And doing so with that infuriating grin ever present on his whisker marked face!
With a loud roar he charged, fully intending to cut down the impudent brat who's very existence he deemed an insult to his person. This time Naruto was just standing there, but just when it seemed like the hot-headed seafarer's daggers were about to stab into the young man's flesh, he grabbed a hold of his opponent's hands, effectively stopping him in his tracks.
The pirate tried to pull himself free, but Naruto's iron hard grip didn't allow him to budge even an inch.
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at his opponents struggle, seeing the rage and frustration grow in his face. "Say, those are some nice knives you've got there," said the blond in a friendly tone, managing to catch the pirate of guard as he eyed his weapons appreciatively. From what he could tell, they seemed to be an identical twin-set, nicely crafted out of a black metal with slightly curved blades that were just slightly longer than his usual kunai, and that suited the shinobi just perfectly.
"You wouldn't mind giving these to me, would you?" Naruto asked with one of his foxy grins.
"Keep on dreamin' ya brat," snarled the pirate. "I stole 'em fair and square and I ain't gonna hand 'em over to some little upstart who hasn't got smarts enough to show proper respect to pirates!"
At the word pirate, the young Jinchuuriki's cheek made an almost unnoticeable twitch, and his cheerful demeanour suddenly became awfully strained. "You're pirates?" Naruto asked with another twitch.
"Damn straight we are! We travel the seas, plunderin' an' pillagin'! All over the world, people cower in fear whenever they hear the name o' the-!"
Whatever he was about to say would remain a mystery as he was promptly knocked out by Naruto. The blond in question had unceremoniously headbutted the blue haired pirate right in the face, defeating him in a similar manner like that of his crew-member not even one minute ago.
"Hey, are you all right?" Toph asked as Naruto muttered a series of curses under his breath after letting the unconscious man fall to the ground.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered. "Just had a flash back from my training trip when me and my master had to deal with some pirates just outside the Land of Water. Let's just say that ever since then I've had somewhat of a problem with them." He let out a heavy sigh before continuing. "Some damn fine ramen was lost that day," he spoke in a sad tone, talking like he had lost a dear friend.
"Ah well, at least I won't have to feel bad about taking his daggers any more," he said, instantly reverting back to his usual cheerful self. He then quickly strapped the knife sheaths to his pants and gave his new weapons a little twirl, testing their weight and how they felt in his hands before putting them away.
"If you're quite done, maybe we should, oh I don't know, chase after that last guy," said Toph with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.
"Oh, right. Sorry, sorry," said Naruto while rubbing the back of his head in slight embarrassment. He then brought his hands in front of him, forming the usual seal for the Kage Bunshin technique and then proceeded with creating about two dozen clones. "All right, guys! The guy that took Aang went that way, but split up and spread out just in case he tries to be sneaky!"
His duplicates all made a mock salute, accompanied with a loud "sir, yessir"in stereo, before jumping into action. "That should speed things up a little," stated the blond with a wide grin.
"So, are we just gonna sit here and wait for them to come back?" Toph asked once all the clones had left. "Instead of wasting time, we should be out there as well."
The blond teenager just grinned. "Don't worry. I gain all the memories of my clones when they dispel themselves. Which means that as soon as one of them finds Aang, we'll know exactly where he is."
"That's... really convenient," said Toph after a brief moment of silence. "Say, how many of those guys can you create anyway?"
Naruto thought about it for a moment, trying to remember the times when he had really gone all out using the technique. "Hm... I'm not entirely sure. One or two thousand maybe. But I hardly ever create that many at once any more, unless the situation really calls for it."
They were quiet for about a minute, but then, all of a sudden, the look on Naruto's face suddenly changed. His eyes widened in horror as the memories of one of his clones returned to him.
Sensing that something was wrong, the young Earthbender was just about to ask what was the matter, when the older boy suddenly, and without warning, threw her onto his shoulder and took off. "H-Hey! Where's the fire?!" Toph yelped at this unexpected turn of events. "What the hell is going on?!"
"No time to explain!" Naruto shouted as he acrobatically leaped from building to building, basically using the same route that his clone had taken during its search. He kept pushing more and more chakra to his legs in order to make his jumps reach longer, hoping that he would be able to reach his destination before it was too late.
Not even two minutes later, the blond genin somersaulted down from the last building before landing at the docks, almost giving an old fisherman a heart attack when they suddenly plopped down beside him right out of nowhere. Naruto then gently let a disoriented Toph down before looking out to the sea, growling in anger at what he saw.
"Damn it! We're too late!"
"What? What's going on?" Toph asked, unable to see what was upsetting him so.
"It's the pirates. Their ship has already departed and they're escaping quickly!" Naruto roared as the ship in question just kept getting farther and farther away on the waters. It would seem like they had indeed arrived too late for saving their friend, but being who he was, the young Konoha shinobi had not given up yet. He was just about to run after the ship, the water not being a hindrance thanks to his ninja training, when the younger girl once again held him back.
"Hold your horses for just one second, Naruto," the young Earthbender said in an iron hard tone that managed to direct the blond's attention completely to her instead of the pirate ship. "Tell me exactly where the ship is right now."
"Toph, this isn't the time for-!"
"Shut the hell up and just point me in the exact direction of where it is!!" Toph bellowed, using a tone that made it quite clear that this wasn't up for discussion. Naruto was silent for a few seconds, giving her an odd look before he begrudgingly did as he was told (more like commanded!). With his seemingly meaningless task done, the blind girl said; "All right, now how far away are they?"
The Uzumaki boy blinked in confusion before taking a look and making a quick estimate of the distance. "Three hundred, maybe three hundred and fifty meters I guess. But listen, we don't have time for-!" Naruto instantly became quiet when he turned around and took note of the mean grin that was currently present on the girls face. He was just about to ask her about the reason behind it, and also why she had one of her feet raised into the air, when his train of thought was interrupted as she spoke.
"Brace yourself," was all she said before slamming her foot down onto the ground.
The ninja didn't even have the time to raise an eyebrow before he was sent flying and screaming through the air, heading straight towards the pirate ship at high speed. Where he had been standing barely a second ago now stood a tall pillar of solid earth instead.
Having finally managed to catch up to them, Momo plopped down on Toph's shoulder. He gave the girl a curious look with his large, green eyes as her toothy grin only seemed to widen while she listened to the fading sounds of Naruto's panicked screams.
"You know what, Momo? It's at times like these that I almost wish I could see."
OoOoOoO
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the almighty Avatar," mocked the pirate captain as he looked down at the paralysed form of Aang. "It's awfully nice seeing you again. Especially considering the fact that we parted on such bad terms."
After Barker had come aboard with their catch, they had immediately began to set their sails in order to depart from the harbour-town's docks as quickly as possible. There was no reason to sit around just to wait for the boy's friends to try and rescue him and as for the guys they were had been forced to leave behind... well now they had three shares less to worry about.
"What... did y-you... do... to me?" Aang managed to hiss through his teeth that were just as tightly shut now as they were when he had first been shot.
"Oh, that? You're currently under the influence of a rare poison I managed to get my hands on during a little trip to a small island in the Fire Nation," answered the Captain with a smirk. "It's called the 'Dragon's Spit' and was made by a man who's considered by some to be the greatest poison maker in the entire world." Seeing the panicked look in the young boy's eyes only served to make the old pirate chuckle in amusement. "Oh, don't you worry. It's not lethal. This agent was designed to specifically target the receiver's muscles, paralysing the body while leaving the internal organs completely unaffected."
"The effects aren't permanent and will disappear in just a few hours, but that won't help you. I've got enough of this baby to make sure that you'll remain completely immobilised for the duration of our journey to the Fire Nation. I intend to personally hand you over to Fire Lord Ozai and collect the fat bounty that he's placed on your shaved little head."
Aang could do little more than stare angrily back at the man responsible of kidnapping him. He could clearly feel the frustration and anguish well up inside of him as he contemplated the possibility that his quest of saving the world might end right here and now. And there didn't seem to be a single thing that he could do about it!
Then, right out of nowhere, the entire ship suddenly shook as if it was struck.
OoOoOoO
The men at the upper deck wasn't sure what exactly had hit them, having been far too occupied with celebrating their victory to really care what was going on around them. What little booze they had left were quickly brought out and shared amongst everyone as they started to dance and sing merry old pirate songs. With the Avatar's insanely large bounty looming at the horizon, the pirates all felt as if the long series of setbacks and misfortune that had been plaguing them had come to an end. That things finally seemed to be looking up for them.
Well, sometimes things just don't go as you want them to.
At first, they had just heard the sound of someone screaming for dear life. The next thing they knew, something fell down from the sky, right onto the ship with enough power to actually make it quake on impact. They were lucky that none of them had been hit by it, and after the initial shock had passed by, they decided to have a look on what it could be.
To their great surprise and confusion, it turned out to be a boy with spiky, yellow hair. He lay sprawled out with his face down on the deck, not moving an inch just long enough for the surrounding pirates to wonder if he was dead. He then started to slowly pull himself back up, right before clutching the visibly growing bump on top of his head and letting out a storm of curses that caused even a few of them to blush.
"Dammit, that hurt!" Naruto finally growled once he was done swearing. "I'm so gonna get you back for that one, Toph." He then blinked, having finally noticed at this point that he was surrounded by a large group of shady looking men that all gave him wary looks. "Say, you wouldn't happen to be the guys that took Aang, would you?"
"What if we are?" snarled the pirate that was standing closest to him, drawing out his sword threateningly while giving him a cold glare. "Did'ya plan to do somethin' about it, boy?"
"Well, I kinda came to free him," Naruto answered simply.
This caused all of the pirates to burst out in mocking laughter. "And how, pray tell, did ya plan to do that?" asked the same man with a smirk, taking on a much more laid back stance as he looked down at the obviously suicidal boy.
Ignoring the laughs, Naruto just gave the pirate a foxy grin before replying. "By kicking all of your asses, of course."
Before the swordsman had any time to react, he was suddenly met with an uppercut to the chin that managed to immediately knock him out cold.
The laughs instantly died in the pirates' throats at the sight. For a moment they were unable to do anything but stare in utter shock as their brains were far too occupied with trying to make sense of what the hell had just happened.
With that done, they all roared in rage and rushed at the boy. The first one of them pulled a knife and tried to stab the Jinchuuriki, but was swiftly kneed in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain before he had any time to even land a hit. The second one was met with a foot to the face, being used as leverage in order for the teenager to jump high into the air, doing a somersault before landing gracefully atop of the ship's figurehead.
Naruto crossed his arms over his bare chest, unable to contain a chuckle as he watched the looks on his opponents faces, ranging from rage to disbelief. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, HEY! You pirate punks sure have some nerve kidnapping one of my friends!" Naruto bellowed, causing the entire pirate crew to halt in their steps and just stare at the grinning blond in bewilderment. "That's one thing I really don't take too kindly to."
"Oh yeah?! Then what'cha gonna do abouth it?!" shouted one of the pirates angrily. "Are ya seriously going to take us on all by yourself, kid? Just who the hell do you think you are?!"
Hook, line and sinker, thought the young ninja. He had waited for someone to ask him something like that. "That's right, I haven't told you who I am yet. Well then, clear those ears 'cause I'm only going to say this once." He then pointed at himself with his thumb, his grin turning almost maniacal in nature. "The name is Uzumaki Naruto, and you'd better remember it! Because it's me you're going to be thinking about after I send you all to the nearest hospital!"
With introductions out of the way, Naruto went right back into business, jumping down and dropkicking two of the pirates with enough force to send them flying into the blue depths of the sea. Things quickly escalated from there as he found himself on the receiving end of a duo of fighters that were both wielding some nasty looking, bladed weapons. Acting purely on reflex, thanks to several years of intense training, Naruto's hand instantly went to his side and brought out one of his newly acquired daggers, blocking the first attacker before doing the same with the second. Not giving them any time to recover, he headbutted the closest one in the face, freeing one of his hands and thus enabling him to punch the other one square in the gut.
"That's two more down," he thought to himself as he re-sheathed the knives while at the same time dodging an attack from a staff user with greasy hair. When the pirate tried another swipe, Naruto grabbed a firm hold onto the wooden weapon, grunting as he gathered his strength before hauling the larger man overboard. "On second thought, make that three," he mentally added after hearing a satisfying splash.
His opponents were quickly dwindling in numbers. It didn't take long before only a little more than half of them remained standing, but none of them looked like they were ready to give up any time soon. Naruto cracked his neck before raising his hand in a beckoning gesture, wordlessly telling them to come and get some more.
The remaining pirates were nearly frothing at the mouth at this point. Having seen their battle seasoned comrades fail so humiliatingly easy against this little punk was beyond infuriating. And the fact that he wouldn't wipe that insufferable grin off his face just made the whole thing even harder to take!
They were all just about ready to launch themselves at the blond, when suddenly the door that lead below deck opened and Barker's face poked out.
"Hey, what's with all the commotion? Cap'n wanna know what's goin' o..." The long haired pirate turned silent when he noticed the bodies that lay sprawled everywhere, groaning and moaning in pain. His gaze was then drawn to Naruto who looked back at him. Everything was quiet as the two of them stared at each other. That is until suddenly...
"Hey, you're that guy from before!" the two of them shouted at exactly the same time, while pointing accusingly at each other.
"So you managed to get past the guys I brought with me," the lanky pirate mused while rubbing his chin. He was honestly impressed by what this boy had accomplished, seeing the results of his violent onslaught lying all over the place. "But how the heck did ya get aboard our ship?"
"I flew," Naruto answered simply while elbowing a guy that had tried to sneak up on him in the face.
Barker was just about to ask the blond another question, but remained silent when he heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind him. After giving a brief glance over his shoulder, he stepped aside without a word in order to allow his leader to walk past him and onto the deck. He let out a sigh since knew that the Captain wasn't going to like what he was about to see.
The Captain let his eyes wander for a moment, ignoring the squawks of his lizard parrot as he took in the sorry state of his once proud crew. He was visibly turning red and it almost looked like his eyes were about to pop right out of their sockets at any moment.
"What in the name of all the hungry beasts of the sea happened here?!" he roared at the top of his lungs, causing everyone in his crew to flinch at his outburst.
There was a tense silence. A needle could have been dropped and everyone would have been able to hear it clearly. Everybody that were still conscious and present then turned and pointed at Naruto who, in turn, raised his hand in a form of greeting. "Hello, my name's Uzumaki Naruto. It's nice to meet you."
The Captain's left eyebrow twitched violently as he stared at the young man.
"Kill him."
The remaining pirates were only happy to comply and jumped right back into the battle, hoping to regain their crew's tarnished honour. But the whole thing continued in pretty much the same way as it had before, with Naruto painfully outclassing his numerous adversaries. While their technique and fighting capabilities might have been pretty impressive by a normal human's standards, they simply were no match against a trained Konoha ninja.
The Barker was just about to join the fray by throwing a few of his patented smoke bombs in the boy's general direction, when he suddenly halted his hand in mid motion, blinking as something suddenly occurred to him. He remained still for a moment as he had a quick look around, noticing how all of his crew mates' attention were focused solely on the blond hurricane that was right in the middle of handing them their asses.
The long haired pirate's lips split into a wicked grin as a plan was taking form inside of his head, and after having another quick look around, the thin man silently sneaked away, going back below deck without being noticed by the raging fighters.
The only one who had managed to see anything was the reptile bird sitting on top of the Captain's shoulder. The avian creature tried to warn his owner, but the grey haired man merely waved him away. "Be quiet and keep yourself out of this, Polly!" he snarled as he drew his sword from the scabbard at his side. Without any more words, he then charged Naruto with a loud battle cry, attempting to behead him with with a swipe of his sharp blade.
The young Uzumaki only grinned as he once again quickly brought out one of his daggers, blocking the sword mere inches from connecting with his neck. In a show of strength, the blond then forcefully shoved his opponent back before going on the offence. The older man could barely keep up with Naruto's insane speed and tempo, having to use all of his years of experience just to keep blocking the boy's attacks. And the damn kid wasn't even fighting him seriously!
This kept on for a few minutes, the old pirate growing noticeably tired as the time passed, until he was heaving for breath and his face was dripping with sweat. He looked as if he was about to keel over at any second now but he just refused to give up. Seeing the young man in front of him completely unaffected by their duel, he growled and summoned his last bits of strength, once again charging at his adversary before making a slash with his sword.
Naruto had seen the strike coming and gathered his chakra into his legs, avoiding the attack by simply jumping high into the air. It was up there, after having nearly passed the top of the main mast, that something out of the corner of his eye managed to catch his attention. His eyes widened momentarily before narrowing at what he saw, but he was glad that he had managed to spot them before they'd managed to get too far away to follow.
"Sorry, guys," said Naruto as he looked down at his opponents down below. "It doesn't look like I've got time to play around with you any more, so I'm afraid I have to start wrapping things up here." With that said, he started charging up a Rasengan in his right hand, allowing the ball of chakra to charge up to maximum power as gravity pulled him back down.
"Rasengan!"
The Captain only had enough time to let out an "oh, shi-!" before the blond Jinchuuriki slammed down on them like a comet. He pierced through the hull of the ship, splitting the whole thing in two with enough force to send the pirates flying in all directions.
The Captain breached the surface and latched onto a nearby plank for dear life, breathing heavily as he watched his pride and joy sink to the depths. His reptile bird then flew down and landed on the bald spot on top of his head and let out a squawk, his hat currently on its way of joining his ship on the bottom of the ocean.
"Not a word, Polly. Not a word," grumbled the old pirate.
Not that far away, Naruto stood atop the water's surface with his arms folded over his chest as he beheld his handiwork. "Well, it looks like my work here is done. Time to get Aang," he said to himself before running off.
OoOoOoO
The Barker hummed a happy tune to himself while rowing the small life-boat across the waves. He was almost giddy with excitement at the thought of collecting that huge bounty all for himself, unable to contain a wide smile as he looked at the still stiff form of Aang at the other end of the tiny vessel who glared daggers back at him.
He had always considered himself to be more of a thinker than he was a fighter. That wasn't to say that he couldn't hold his own in a scrap, he just knew his limitations a little better than some of his more hot-headed crew-mates did (well, that would be ex crew-mates now, but that's not the point). After having seen his comrades being defeated one after another, it really didn't take him all that much effort to come to the conclusion that he would most likely end up the same way.
That was when he had gone to thinking about how he could make the most benefit out of this fiasco and not end up being humiliatingly beaten into a bloody pulp by a teenager. He found out that it had come to him surprisingly quickly.
Snag the Avatar and get the hell out of there when everyone else were to busy fighting to even notice. Brilliant!
He was jolted out of his happy thoughts when he heard something that almost sounded like an explosion. It had curiously enough come from where he'd left the ship, but before he'd gotten any chance to make sure what it was, his attention was once again directed towards his unwilling passenger.
"You won't get away with this!" Aang hissed through his clenched teeth, the infuriating poison still active in his system. Not only was he completely at the mercy of the pirate in his current immobilised state, his nose had started itching like mad too!
"Ah, but that's where I have to disagree, my dear Avatar," replied his captor in a happy sing song tone. "As far as I see it, there's just a single boat ride between here and a life of luxury for me. A very long boat ride mind you, but a boat ride none the less. And as long as I have these darts with Dragon's Spit, you can't do a single – Is that kid running towards us on top of the water?" he suddenly said with a puzzled look on his face.
Aang raised an eyebrow at what the pirate had just said, wondering if he had misheard him. But after hearing the faint sound of splashing coming from behind them, the boy forced his neck through sheer will power alone to turn just enough so that he would be able to glance just barely at whatever it was that caused it.
To his shock and joy he saw none other than Naruto sprinting towards them, running across the water's surface as if it was solid ground.
For a short moment, it almost seemed as if the pirate's mind had been frozen, making him only capable of staring with his mouth slightly agape as the blond came closer and closer. Then, almost as if someone had pulled a switch inside the engine room, the Barker shook his head and resumed rowing for all he was worth.
But Naruto was quickly closing in on them, and after having seen what he was capable of, the long haired crook could clearly imagine what would happen to him if the teenager finally caught up with them. Being beaten into a pulp was really not something he was looking forward to, so in an act of desperation he grabbed onto Aang and held a knife to his throat.
"Take just one step closer and the boy here is going to find himself one head short," he threatened darkly.
Naruto halted himself almost immediately, glaring angrily into the eyes of the man who was using Aang as a human shield. The young ninja silently wondered how the hell they were going to get out of this situation, when suddenly, an idea that just might work occurred to him.
The blond allowed himself a small smile as he straightened himself and slowly held up his hands in front of him.
"Hey, no funny business," warned the pirate.
"No funny business," Naruto repeated and crossed the index and middle fingers on each hand in front of him, seemingly to emphasis what he had just said.
The only one who suspected that he was actually up to something was Aang, having seen the older boy make the same sign before. He just hoped that Naruto knew what he was doing.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Barker smirked. "You just stay good and we'll all get out of this happy and unscathed... Well, until I hand the kid over to the Fire Nation that is. But that's beside the point! If you as much as...!" The pirate turned silent when he suddenly felt a wet hand grab onto his right wrist. He then yelped in pain as his knife hand was twisted away from Aang's neck and forced him to slightly turn around, his eyes widening in disbelief when he saw who it was that had sneaked up behind him.
There behind him, holding his arm in a painfully firm grip, stood the dripping wet form of the blond boy that he had just been talking to. The only problem with the whole thing was that said blond hadn't moved an inch from his spot! Somehow there were now two of them!
However, Aang's kidnapper didn't get that long to think about this strange turn of events. The Kage Bunshin wasted little time and promptly knocked the man out with a well aimed left hook before poofing itself out of existence. A puff of smoke being the only thing left behind to tell that it had even been there in the first place.
Naruto met Aang's confused stare with a grin before calmly walking up to the boat, explaining himself on the way. "I made the clone appear directly underneath me, then all it had to do was to simply swim underneath you and sneak up behind the guy when he least expected it." The blond then proceeded with picking up the still paralysed Aang under his arm. "Now, what do you say about going back to the others?"
Despite it being a bit difficult in his current state, the young Airbender forced a smile onto his face. Right now he was really glad that they had decided to seek shelter from the storm in that cave.
"You know, Aang... You make a really good statue," Naruto commented.
Had he been able to, Aang would have hit his rescuer.
OoOoOoO
Hope you enjoyed the new chapter. As usual, if you have any questions regarding the fic, please feel free to let me know any time.
Well, that was everything for this time. Until we meet again, this is ChaosGhidorah who's signing off.