Here we are again with another chapter. As you may have seen my latest chapter was much longer than normal. In order to get chapters faster, I will submit the normal amount of text. Most of the chapters will be thus one episode per two chapters. Anyway, let's get to business, so enjoy, rewiew, post, list and so on.
In an island controlled by Fire Nation a group of ninjas were honing their skills. But instead of kunai or other regular ninja weapons, they used bows with incredible skill and accuracy. They were the Yu Yan archers, the elite ninjas of the Fire Nation, whose archery skills far surpassed those of a normal warrior. Two men were standing in a guard tower looking the Yu Yan's practice. The first was Kakashi Hatake, a powerful jonin, who had earned the title of Copy Ninja for his ability to use any jutsu he saw. He was dressed in a typical leaf ninja's uniform, consisting of black overalls and a red vest with Fire Nation's symbol. His face was hidden behind a scarf and his left eye by a headband with a spiralled leaf on a metal plate, a symbol of the leaf school. The second person was commander Zhao in his typical attire. They were chatting during the watching.
"I'm glad to see that the troops are still in good shape." Kakashi said.
"You are right, captain Hatake" Zhao spoke. "That's why it is a shame colonel Shinu uses them only as his personal bodyguards."
"It is quite understandable. Even the Fire Nation is not safe from the harm this war brings to the world. He just wants to be safe."
"By hiding behind the best ninjas of the Fire Nation, who should be performing missions."
"It is up to me, how the Yu Yan archers are used" Came a voice from the stairs. It was colonel Shinu. "If your request is to borrow them, forget it."
Zhao chuckled. "Actually it is an order, not request." He said taking out a paper. "I was promoted to the rank of admiral recently. So I hope they are soon ready to leave."
Shinu looked at the paper, sighed and headed back down. Kakashi looked at Zhao.
"So why did you call me here." He asked. "I doubt you wanted to see me only to celebrate your promotion."
"Correct, Kakashi" Zhao answered. "I would like you to lead the Yu Yans on their mission to capture the Avatar. That is if your students can survive without you a day or two."
Kakashi thought. "Sasuke can take care of himself and Sakura obeys him as much as she obeys me. Sai... well, at least he won't let his emotions bother him. I'll do it."
"Good" Zhao answered going down. "Oh! And get yourself ready quickly, the team leaves tomorrow"
However there was a fourth one on top of the tower, listening to the others' chat. He wore a brown suit and a blue demon mask. After the conversation the man carefully walked down the wall and landed to the shore, making sure no one saw him. He sneaked to a bush, pulling a small boat from it and silently rowed away. Soon he was on the shore of a forest where his companions had put a camp. A young woman appeared in front of him, it was Kurenai.
"Was the mission a success" She asked. The man removed his mask, revealing the face of Zuko.
"I found out everything necessary" He said. "Zhao has been promoted to admiral and has taken the command of the Yu Yan archers. They leave tomorrow to search Avatar with captain Hatake leading them."
Kurenai's eyes filled with shock. "Kakashi?" She gasped.
"What's wrong?" Zuko asked seeing Kurenai's shock.
Kurenai calmed down. "It's nothing to be afraid of. I just got a little surprised. Anyway the training is over. You may go to sleep." Zuko bowed and left Kurenai alone. Kurenai turned her eyes on the moon, thinking about her past. Kakashi. If I had known I would one day fight against you, I'd never had allowed Five Flames to dispand.
But Zuko didn't go to sleep right away. He had too many thoughts in his head. What is wrong with me? I used to be so determined to capture Avatar, but now I feel I'm doing something wrong. But if I decide to help Avatar, I will never see Fire Nation again. Still, what kind of nation am I actually serving?
"Can't sleep either?" Came a voice next to Zuko. It was Naruto, also sitting next to a tree. "Is something wrong?"
"Well, a little." Zuko admitted. "There are so many choices to do and I'm not sure what is the right thing. Everything is so strange."
"You think that's strange? Wait until you hear what happened to me few days ago"
Zuko wasn't exactly in the mood for a story, but maybe a little cheer up wouldn't be so bad. "Go on."
"Thanks! Anyway, when I was walking in the forest looking for wood, there was a stranger collecting herbs. She said they were for her friends, who were injured. I decided to help her, after which she thanked me and left giving me some advises"
"What strange was in that? You just met a random girl in the forest and talked. That sounds pretty normal to me"
"Well there were two strange things in her. One: She looked like I had seen her many times. And two: when she left she said: 'By the way, I'm a boy.'"
Zuko tried to hold his laugh. "What? Was he really a boy?"
"Yeah! And he was even prettier than Sakura!"
"Then he must have been really weird" Zuko yawned, he started to feel tired. "By the way, who is Sakura."
"She was a girl from the same academy I went..." Naruto started, but stopped after seeing Zuko asleep. He smiled, stood up and went to give a blanket to his cousin, who was sleeping peacefully for the first time in a month.
In the morning Yu Yans led by Kakashi left to find the Avatar. Their target were old ruins in the mountains, where the latest report came from. after their arrival to the ruins, Kakashi gave orders to all.
"Everybody move to different directions to seek the Avatar. Return here in five minutes. However, if you see the kid, stay on guard and fire an arrow here with a message of your direction. We all come to aid after rest have returned. I'll stay here and wait for messages. Move!"
Archers left to different directions, while Kakashi took a book from his pocket. Soon an arrow flew trough the air, which Kakashi grabbed. Taking the book away, he looked at the message. Apparently Avatar was collecting frozen frogs in the swamp for reasons unknown. Kakashi hoped others would return before the boy got finished. Luckily Yu Yans never wasted time and soon the team was whole again.
"Okay, men. Avatar is in the west." Kakashi informed. "He collects frozen frogs in the swamp. We must hurry before he finishes. Let's go.
Kakashi left to the informed direction with archers behind him. Soon they met the archer, who gave the message. Luckily the boy was still searching for frogs. Kakashi gave everyone a signal to attack. When archers attacked, Kakashi stayed behind and revealed his left eye. But this eye was not a normal eye, it was red and the pupil was surrounded by three markings. It was sharingan, a mysterious eye possessed by the Uchihas, which allowed them to copy techniques used by the enemies, as long as they were not bloodlines or bending. Kakashi normally kept it hidden, but now he wanted to see if the Avatar's airbending movements could be compromised to his firebending.
Aang tried to defend himself from the attackers. He could easily deflect the arrows by using the wind to create a shield around himself. However he couldn't stay and fight, because the frogs may melt during the battle, after which they would be useless to Sokka and Katara, who needed them as medicine. So Aang's only option was to escape. He decided to lose his captors in a forest, where he thought they couldn't use bows effectively. Little did he know, that a mysterious man was waiting in him. Aang took his fighting stance, and the man mimicked him. Aang looked in amazement, when the man copied his every movement. Even with his bigger size he was just as fast and agile as Aang was.
This is bad. Aang thought. He can mimic my every movement, so I have no chance of getting behind him. On the other hand, if he can only mimic me, he's limited by his nationality and I still have my Airbending.
Aang jumped several meters backwards and the stranger did the same. Confident that the man couldn't copy him, he created a sphere of air and jumped on it. When he came rushing towards, the man mimicked Aang's earlier movements, making a sphere in his hands, but this was made of fire instead of air. Confused Aang didn't have time to react, when the stranger kicked the sphere, hitting him on the chest. Aang tried to rise up, but was pinned down by arrows. The stranger came next to Aang.
"I suppose you thought I would be unable to copy your airbending" He said. "Unfortunately to you fire and air are closely related, both use swift elegant movements and require air. I tell you this because it will be of no use to you. Take him away."
However Aang's capture wasn't unnoticed. Zuko, masqueraded as the Blue Spirit, saw everything. Silently he returned to the camp, where the others were also masquerading. Hinata had put on a light armour of polished steel and dyed her hair crimson, which she was now making spiky. Kiba on the other hand was wearing a white training suit, which he had stuffed two apples around the chest to imitate breasts. He was now strapping exploding tags underneath his tan hooded cloak to use on their mission. Shino, however was nowhere to be seen.
"Hi Zuko" Kiba greeted with his informal manner. "Did you see the kid?"
"Yes. And they have captured him." Zuko answered, though he wasn't worried.
"So far, so good." Kiba continued. "If the plan goes accordingly, they will soon arrive to the closest Fire Nation's fortress to spend the night. And in the morning the Avatar is transported to Fire Nation in a large escort. Since it would be impossible to us to defeat a battalion of warriors, we must infiltrate the fortress to 'rescue' the kid before sunrise. Is this okay?"
Zuko chuckled. "Ever since I invented it. But in order to this plan to succeed, we need to hide our identities completely"
"That is why I made this jutsu" Came a soft, gentle voice behind them. A young man dressed entirely in black with several feather decorations and a hawk mask in his face appeared in front of them.
"Is it you, Shino." Hinata asked nervously. The boy nodded. "You shouldn't scare me up like that. I may have mistaken you for an enemy." She suddenly stopped when she saw Zuko and Kiba looking at her confused. "What are you looking at?"
"If you hadn't discovered yet you didn't stutter." Shino answered.
"You are right" Hinata said amazed. Normally she was too shy to speak clearly, but now there wasn't even fear in her voice. "I guess I don't feel afraid when being with you."
"We have all grown during our travel" Zuko commented to the discovery. "Time away from the Fire Nation's protection has given us talents we would had no chance to learn at home."
"Is that why we need to wear these disguises?" Kiba asked putting his cloak on, to which Zuko nodded.
"Now when we have a chance to use skills unknown to the Fire Nation, we can rescue the Avatar without getting our faces to posters"
"Now that you mentioned" Shino interrupted. "I would need your mask for a moment." Zuko gave his mask to Shino, who put it on the ground and made five handsigns. "Voice twist jutsu!" The mask's mouth glowed a while, after which it returned to normal. "This mask will now make your voice sound different. I already fixed mine, Hinata's and Kiba's masks"
Kiba took a white tiger mask and put it on. "Hey, this thing works." He said after hearing his voice having turned to that of a teen girl.
"Luckily I don't stutter anymore" Hinata, who wore a steel mask painted red, commented. "Despite I now look and sound like a young boy, it would give me away."
"We just now need to focus on the mission and prevent us from being revealed" Zuko informed putting his mask on, which turned his voice to that of a middle-aged man "When the sun sets down, and humans will go to sleep, Spirit Squad shall come."