Author's note: At last, after a long break I have a new chapter. I'm not sure, how it has felt, but nonetheless, enjoy the new chapter

Naruto lied down sulking. That was pretty much his normal mood since he "joined" the Avatar on his travels. Technically it was Hacua, who had joined the Avatar, but since he was sealed inside Naruto, they shared his body. He was now on Appa's back with the rest of Aang's companions, wearing one of Katara's spare clothes and having a rope tied around his neck, Sokka holding the other end.

"I have no idea, which is worse" Naruto complained. "That I'm a prisoner of my enemies or that I'm wearing girl's clothes."

"I would say it's the first one." Sokka answered. "After all there are three good reasons for those clothes. Firstly if you walked around in that fire armor of yours, you would get killed. Secondly, I am much bigger than you, so my clothes are out of question. And thirdly, Aang has no spare clothes at all."

"Oh well, I wouldn't have used one hundred years old clothes anyway." Naruto continued. "But do I really have to walk with this rope around my neck. I'm not a dog!"

"No." Sokka admitted. "But you are a fox. A really big fox with really destructive airbending powers."

"The only fox here is Hacua and the airbending also belongs to him." Naruto corrected. "I just can't believe I've all this time lending the powers of a lunatic."

"Watch your mouth, Kit!" Hacua interrupted taking over Naruto. "If it wasn't for me, the fortune teller's village would now be under magma!"

"Oh, and I thought Aang saved them." Naruto said sarcastically.

"Well, I got some help from him." Aang admitted smiling. "It feels so good to have another familiar one with me!"

"Speaking of familiars, is that a water tribe boat?"

Sokka dashed next to Naruto and looked down. Right underneath there was a boat stranded on the beach. Though the flags and sails were missing, Sokka could still recognise the design. It was water boat.

"Aang! Land us to the beach!" Sokka shouted. "There may be water tribal's here!"

At the same time Zuko's troops were searching for Naruto. This was because he was now travelling with the Avatar. When Zuko, Hinata, Kiba and Shino returned to the camp Naruto was nowhere. And when they were tracking him, they had seen the sky bison leaving not only with Avatar and his companions, but with tied up Naruto. After that they started to track both of them. Kiba and Akamaru were trying to find the scent of Naruto, unsuccessfully.

"Well can't you try harder" Zuko asked getting angry.

"The avatar spends too much time airborne." Kiba answered. "Neither I or Akamaru can find scent from the air. Only a shirshu could smell them."

"Shirshu?" Zuko asked. "What's that?"

"A mole-hound hybrid." Kurenai answered. "They lack eyes, but their noses are highly developed. According to rumours they are said to be able to smell a grain of rice from the other side of the Earth Kingdom. I'm not sure if it's true, but some bounty hunters use them to capture criminals.

"I see." Zuko continued. "And how are we supposed to find a bounty hunter in a middle of nowhere?"

Before Kurenai had a chance to answer, Shino spoke. "I can send my kikaichus to seek one. Bounty hunters often hang in bars, so if one of them owns a shirshu, it should be outside the bar. Just tell me what they look like and I'll tell my bugs to seek it."

"Let's see." Kurenai thought trying to remember how a Shirshu looked like. "Oh, yes. Shirshu looks more like hound than a mole. Its ears are small and the nose looks a little like a star. It's a little smaller than a sky bison and has a brown fur, which is darker on the back and head"

Shino nodded and released thousands of insects underneath his armour and sent them everywhere. "Now we'll just have to wait."

Aang sat on top of the water ship, looking at the sea. He was feeling very lonely. When they had landed, a water tribe warrior was also there. His name was Bato. He was a friend of Sokka's and Katara's father. At first Aang was exited to meet him, but then all three started to ignore him. They were probably still talking with each other, not even noticing that Aang had left. Hacua was also on the beach, walking towards Aang.

"I can see you are feeling bad about something" He said. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"There is absolutely nothing wrong" Aang answered rudely. "Just go away"

"Listen, Hacua. Let me handle this. " Came Naruto's voice. Hacua went back to dormant state, while Naruto continued. "Hacua may not know, why you are sulking, but I do: You crave attention"

"Why do you think that?"

"I used to have that same problem in the past as well."

Naruto's story

"You see, when I lived in the fire palace, I felt lonely here and then. Servants would just do their jobs and leave, not even saying anything when in my presence. Uncle Ozai always looked at me with some kind of anger in his eyes. After that I used to pull pranks everywhere in the palace, but still only the guards would notice me. One day, despite dad forbidding it, I left the palace. When I walked in the capital, I was assaulted. Civilians, beat me and threw rocks at me, calling me names like demon and monster and so on. Last thing I remember was Lu Ten splitting the crowd and taking me into his arms. Later when I was in the hospital, dad told me that the reasons they attacked was because there are people who hate the Fire Lord, but due to his firebending, don't have the courage to attack him, so they try to satisfy their rage by attacking those close to him."

End of Naruto's story

"At first I was sure he told the truth, after all I'm not even a firebender, so I was an easy target. But now I know the truth. They all believe I'm not a Fire National human, who just wants to be seen, but an Air Nomad demon, who killed countless innocent people."

Aang went silent. He thought about Naruto's theory and realised that he was right. He did want people to pay attention to him, he wanted to be noticed. Ever since he had met Katara and Sokka, he was constantly trying to impress them or someone else.

Aang sighed. "You know, Naruto. For such a dumb kid, you are smart."

Naruto chuckled. Then he heard something moving on the beach. He looked at the direction of the voice and saw an earth warrior coming towards them riding an ostrich horse.

"Hey, you kids on the boat." he said. "Can I ask for a favor?"

Aang jumped in front of the man. "Sure. What can I do for you?"

The warrior took a scroll under his armor and gave it to Aang. "There is a water warrior in a monastery. Give this to him."

Aang nodded. The warrior jumped on his steed and left. Aang looked at the paper and crumled it to a ball. Naruto quickly grapped Aang's hand and took the paper from him.

"What do you think you are doing, Aang?" He asked.

"Preventing my friends from leaving me permanently." Aang answered. "It's a map Bato has been waiting for. If Katara and Sokka find out about this, they will surely leave me to find their father."

Naruto opened the map, looked at it and chuckled. "Oh, Aang, Aang, Aang." He said. "If you hide this, they will even more likely leave you let's say, if you accidentally drop it."

"Then what should I do? Give it to them?"

"Exactly"

"Are you crazy, Naruto? Don't you remember what I just said? If I did that, they would leave me even quicker!"

"Two words for you, Aang: Reverse Psychology. People often make the opposite of what they should do: they eat the desert first because it was meant to be eaten after the meal, walk through the door because it says "do not enter", you name it. If you want to keep your friends, give the map to them."

Aang thought for a moment. "He is right. If they find out I was going to stop them from leaving, they will leave me out of anger. So perhaps if I act like I wanted to give them the map, they will definitely ask to continue with me. Wait a minute, that's not possible, it's too illogical. On the other hand it is worth trying and I don't really have another option."

Aang turned towards Naruto. "What do I need to do?"

At the same time outside a tavern Zuko's group had found a bounty hunter, who had a shirshu. Her name was June.

"So, let me get this straight." She said after hearing Zuko's suggestion for helping them. "You want Nyla to sniff out a member of your group, who is currently a kidnapped by the Avatar, who is your actual target, right?"

"Yes. Um, are there any problems?" Zuko asked, hoping that June wouldn't drop the mission for moral reasons. His fear was found wrong, whe he heard June's answer.

"Nope, just checking. By the way, Nyla can only carry a maximum of four adults, me included, so the kids have to stay here."

"There is no need to" Shino interrupted. "As ninjas we are trained to move quickly on foot."

"In that case I'll run as well." Kurenai said. "Ne need as much speed we can get. Remove all heavy objects, so we can move better. I believe the Shirshu can carry them."

"Count me in on the running team." Zuko said removing his armor. "I need some practice and the Shirshu is already carrying a heavy load."

"I heard that" Iroh commented.

"Okay, enough with the small talk." June interrupted. "We should get going before the Avatar saves the world."

June gave the signal with her whip and Nyla started running to the direction of the scent with the runners following by jumping from tree to tree.