Chapter 6 Around the Camp Fire
Sasuke Uchiha walked across the red marble stone floor of the fire nation palaces, normally he would make sure his footsteps wasn't heard but he wanted the Fire Lord to know he was coming. He marched into the throne room of the Fire Lord throwing the doors open to make a show to the everyone there. The room was full of generals and top officers; they all looked at Sasuke with fear in their eyes.
"Sasuke, thank you for joining us." Said Ozai with a smile "Allow me to finish this meeting and I will talk with you."
Sasuke said nothing as he sat down at the far end of the table his snake sword lying out so that he could attack at any moment.
"Lord Ozai, we are just over two weeks away from the coming of the comet and we are five airships behind schedule." said a top general as he tried not to look at Sasuke Uchiha but the glint of the bright mental sword made it hard.
"We need those Airships built in time I don't care if the workers have to work around the clock those airships will be done in time." ordered Ozai
"It will be done sir." said the general as he looked at Sasuke "Sir, I must inform you that some of the people are worried about this Sasuke Uchiha, we don't know who he is."
Before he could say anything he found Sasuke's snake sword pressed against his throat, somehow Sasuke had gone from the sitting position to standing on top of the low table with his sword tip against the general's throat who had been as far away from Sasuke as possible.
"Your knowledge of me is irrelevant." said Sasuke as he looked at the general with his Sharingan eyes, his sword drawing a small amount of blood "All you need to know that I could kill you in an instant."
"I agree with Sasuke, it isn't your place to guess about him." said Ozai before looking at the generals "He is my guest and that is all you need to know. Now leave us."
Sasuke pulled the sword back putting it back in it's steath. The Generals quickly left the room fallowed by everyone else leaving Sasuke alone with the fire lord.
"I guess you are here to find out my answer." said Ozai as he went and sat down on his throne
"Or kill you." stated Sasuke as he walked toward Ozai, he could tell that Ozai was upset that Sasuke didn't bow down like a normal soldier but on some levels he could tell that Ozai liked seeing someone as strong willed if not stronger than him. "Depending on your answer."
"Well Sasuke, I have decided to honor my daughter's deal." said Ozai "You bring us the Avatar alive and we will give you all the information we have and help you get home."
"Very well." stated Sasuke
"Also it would be best if we have him before the comet comes in 17 days." said Ozai
"Give me one of your airships to bring me to the mainland and I will get him before this comet comes." stated Sasuke
"Oh course, we will give you whatever you want." said Ozai "In fact Azula and her team will go with you to help you out."
"That will not be needed." stated Sasuke "She may only get in the way."
"This world is full of my forces and you are not Fire Nation, they will attack you on sight and slow down your capture of the Avatar and from you getting the information we have." stated Ozai as Sasuke's eyes narrowed as the fire lord stood up "However with my daughter those forces will help you. Instead of attacking you they will help you get the Avatar….it is a strange world out there Sasuke Uchiha you will need my forces help with information gathering and other tasks."
"Very well." said Sasuke as he headed toward the door "I will leave within the hour, if your daughter isn't there by then she will be left behind."
"She and your airship will be waiting for you." said Ozai as Sasuke left the room closing the door on his way out. "So Azula do you really think he can capture the Avatar in two weeks when others have failed for over a hundred years?"
"None of them where a ninja father, if he finds them they will be captured." stated Azula as she stepped out of the shadow.
"Very well but I need you back here by the time the comet comes." ordered Ozai "With or without the Avatar be here."
"I will be back." said Azula as she turned to leave "And I will have the Avatar in chains."
"Good, then I can focus on the rest of my plans for Sasuke Uchiha." said Ozai as Azula raised an eyebrow.
Naruto Uzumaki walked thought the streets of the Leaf village just thinking about what he had lost. As he walked past the Ramón stand he couldn't help but think back to the times he and Jiriaya would sit there and talk. He was his sensei and his friend and now he was gone from the world. Unknown to him Sakura was watching him from a nearby rooftop; she had been fallowing him since he had left the Hokage building.
"He is taking this hard." thought Sakura
"Wouldn't we if it was Lady Tsunade or Kakashi-sensie who had died?" asked Inner Sakura
"Ya, I would." answered Sakura knowning that while she wasn't very close to Jiriaya she had seen how both her teammate and her Hokage.
"Do you think Naruto will take up that Avatar person's offer? Does he want to be free of the kyuubi" asked Inner Sakura to her outer self.
"Ya, I think Naruto-kun will, he wants to bring Sasuke back to me." said Sakura sadly "He would do it even if he had to keep the demon."
"You switched the kun." said Inner Sakura
"What?" asked Sakura
"You called Naruto…Naruto-kun and you dropped the kun from Sasuke." said Inner Sakura
"I guess you are right." said Sakura
"Face it girl, you like the blonde hair idiot." said Inner Sakura, Sakura had no answer to tell herself. Part of her wanted to say no she loved Sasuke but there was another part of her, maybe a stronger part of her wanted to say yes that she loved the blonde hair idiot. She was fighting back the need to go down there and comfort him but she knew that Naruto would turn the talk to Sasuke and he needed to work though Jiriaya death before he could focus on anything else.
"I don't know." said Sakura back to herself.
Inside the Hokage's office Lady Tsunade looked at Avatar Roku who thanks to the justu could still be seen.
"So you are dead?" asked Tsunade
"For over a hundred years." answered Roku "As Avatar I am the link toward the spirit world and the real world which allows me to travel between them freely."
"I see." said Tsunade
"This may be a strange idea, but as the link between the spirit world and the psychical world can you see people who have died?" asked Fukasaku as Roku looked at him.
"It is within my power as the avatar, I used it to see my wife and children." addmited Roku "But it is hard thing to do?"
"So do you think you can go to Jiriaya and ask him what the code means?" asked Fukasaku as Tsunade's eyes widened at the possibility of him doing that.
"Yes, I can do that." said Roku
"Will you?" asked Tsunade
"Of course, once I reach a gate between your world and spirit world I can have the answer in an hour or less." said Roku "However the nearest gate that I know is a fair distance away."
"There is a legend of a gate to the world of spirits lie in the old fire temple." stated Tsunade as she looked out the window to a very small stone building on the other side of the street. There was an old stone and wood structure, the temple had stood for thousands of years "The fire temple is the oldest building in the Leaf predating the village by over a thousand years and has been used as a temple to different spirits, if a gate is anywhere it would be there."
"I will take a look and return." said Roku as he left the room disappearing as he left the effects of Fukasaku's toad mist justu behind him.
"Do you trust him lady Hokage?" asked Shizune to her leader and friend.
"Not totally but if he can have help Naruto and us then it is worth the risk." said Tsunade "And if we can take the Kyuubi out of play then it ruins all the Akatsuki plans."
Avatar Aang stood in an open field across from Zuko, he was trying his best to master Fire Bending but his mind was to focused on the threat of Sasuke Uchiha. This lost of focused effected Aang as he sent a wave of fire to Zuko, however it fizzled out before it even reached Zuko.
"You need to concentrate, or else the Fire Lord will whip the floor with you." snapped Zuko as Aang lowered his head in shame as Zuko kept yelling.
"Zuko…back off." snapped Katara as she stormed toward them from behind a rock.
"We are only weeks away from the comet and if yelling at him allows him to survive then I will yell." snapped Zuko toward the water bender "I don't tell you how to train Aang with your element don't tell me how to train him in my element and stop spying on my training session!"
"I will not let you yell at him!" yelled Katara as the two of them glared at each other their faces only inches apart. Red hot fire was covering Zuko's hands while ice cold water covered Katara's hands, they were about to strike each other in a clash of their elements. Before it came to blows Aang spoke up.
"It's alright Katara." said Aang as he stepped between his two teachers and friends.
"No it isn't Aang." said Katara without even looking at Aang her blue eyes were locked on Zuko's golden ones "We should never had let him in our group, he can't be trusted."
"I trust him and so does your brother." stated Aang "Besides he is the only way I can learn how to fire bending in time to stop the Fire Lord. Also it is my fault the fire was so weak, I was too busy worrying about that Sasuke Uchiha."
"Fine but I am watching you." said Katara as stormed off, her water falling onto the ground in the form of ice spears with each step. While Katara walked away, Zuko let the fire go from his hands.
"I should apologize for Katara." said Aang
"It is ok, she has survived much because of the Fire Nation, she isn't alone." said Zuko as Aang got the feeling Zuko knew what Katara was feeling "If lashing out against me helps her deal with that pain and lost….let her lash out. Spirit's know I deserve everything she may give me but I will do what I have to, to get you ready for the Fire Lord."
Avatar Roku walked though a strange mist, the mist covered the entire area a mist that would never lift. He could tell instantly that this was the spirit world it just felt differently than the real world, it wasn't even the real spirit world it is a holding station for newly dead souls on their way to the afterworld, whether that be in heaven, one of the circles of hell or something in between. As he walked through the mist he approached a large camp fire one of many spread out across the field. He could hear laughter coming from it which was strange for this world, most people cried or screamed after learning that they had died.
As he reached the light, he noticed a large man with long white hair and red marks on his face. However he wasn't alone there where two other man sitting there, both of the man where in chains. The chains were a symbol of were a person was going and how long they would be there. If a person had done wrong but a great amount of good they would spend only a short while in one of the circles of hell before they paid back for their crimes. It worked like a prison senstence and in time only the most evil people wouldn't get to heaven. He knew from the pictures he had seen that the free man was the one he was looking for, Jiriaya the Toad Sage.
"If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here." snapped a man in the heaviest chains, the man was wrapped head to toe. Only his head wasn't wrapped up in chains, this meant that he would never get out of the lowest level of the underworld. He had unnatural white skin and black hair, everything about him screamed pure evil.
"Shut up Orochimaru I needed to free my brother." said the other chained man, however unlike the other man he only had his hands from the wrist to wrist were bound. This marked him for punishment but also meant in time he would be freed. The other man had jet black hair and dark eyes.
"I still find it hard to believe that you killing your clan was a mission, Itachi." said Jiraiya who was totally free of any chains.
"Yes, I had to kill every member of the Uchiha clan but in the end I couldn't kill my little brother Sasuke. Maybe my brother will find peace in the world I sent him too." said Itachi before he looked into the mist "And you might as well come to the fire too."
Slowly Roku walked toward the light as the others looked at him, dressed in his strange red rob and head piece.
"Who are you?" asked Jiriaya "Are you the grim reaper here to take us to the final resting place? Because if so you are dressed very weird."
"No, I Avatar Roku. I am from the world your brother Sasuke was sent too." said Roku as Itachi's eyes widened "And he is causing a lot of problems with the war raging in our world. He is hunting down the current Avatar and the only one who has the hope of ending a 100 year long war without the ones who started it being victories."
"What do you expect us to do, we are chained to go to hell." snapped Orochimaru as he struggled in his chains but no matter what he did the chains wouldn't break or give because they were made of his own sins "Well not Jiraiya, he is going to heaven."
"I know the rules, I am the Avatar of our world, the bridge between the real and spirit world." said Roku as he looked at the snake Sannin "The number of chains means the number of years in hell and the fact that you are in a full body chains means you are never getting out."
"I deserve the same fate as Orochimaru but it seems the spirits have different plans." said Itachi as he looked at his hand cuffs. Only seven links of chains bound his hands meant that he would only spend seven years in one of the higher levels of hell as punishment for his sins before he would be allowed to ascend to heaven.
"How do you plan to stop Sasuke?" asked Jiriaya
"One Naruto Uzumaki." said Roku as Orochimaru started laughing.
"That weakling couldn't win a fight with a paper bag." laughed Orochimaru "Let alone Sasuke."
"Never under a Namikaze." said Itachi as Jiriaya and Orochimaru looked at him.
"How did you know that?" asked Jiriaya
"Namikaze?" asked Orochimaru
"It is clear to anyone with eyes who he really is, that is if you wanted to see it." said Itachi "That is why if anyone could bring my brother back to the good side, it is him."
"Maybe." said Jiriaya with a smile before he looked at Roku "I am guessing you are hear because they couldn't figure out the code about Pain."
"Yes, only then can Naruto come and help our world." said Roku
"Alright, the message is that the Real Pain is not amongst them." said Jiriaya as Roku raised an eyebrow "The Pains that are on the battlefield are only dead bodies brought back as chakra puppets used by the real Pain one of my former students named Nagato. He controls them from another location, unless he is brought down Pain will never die."
"I see." said Roku "I will give them the message."
"Also tell Naruto that I am proud of him and don't tell him about the Namikaze thing he will learn that when he comes of age." said Jiriaya as a howling wind filled the air as the fog around the fire began to lift only to show a river on the other side of the fire and what looked like a boat coming toward them "You better get going we are about to cross over."
"I thank you for your help." said Roku as he walked away as the wind howled and the camp fire went out as Jiriaya and the others were brought to their final fate.
Well I hope you liked this chapter, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I ask that you keep on reading. Thanks Wilkins75