Hey everyone, it's good to be back in the land of fanfiction. Now I've finally been able to update this story along with a couple of others so I do hope that you will read and enjoy.
I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER
"So how did you walk on water?"
"Again Chakra." Sakura repeated to Sokka for the fourth time; after Aang had gone off on his own to the walls the rest of the group were making their way there slowly.
"What else can that do?"
"Depends." Sakura said in thought "Something similar to bending abilities is that there are certain types of chakra like water, earth, fire, lightning, wind...but there are those who are able to use more than one type and control different elements just not to as much of an extent like you guys can. We can also use chakra to heal, increase strength, walk on water, walls, increase our speed and we can use it for summoning creatures that help us fight."
"Wow..." Katara trailed "That sounds amazing."
Sakura smiled "Really? What I think is amazing is your bending abilities; what's the energy source for that though?"
"Chi" Katara told her "It's our life energy."
"Chakra a combination of both spiritual and physical energy that flows within our bodies; it's kind of the same thing." Sakura said "Well not the same but similar in concept."
"Hey guys can we cut the boring talk?" Toph interrupted "Were always there."
The group was getting closer and closer to the wall of Ba Sing Se and Sakura couldn't believe the size. It was literally a giant wall surrounding a large area and within those walls was supposedly a city.
"Amazing, and this was made from earth bending?" asked Sakura in awe
"That's right" said Katara
As they continued on they saw Aang and Momo flying back towards them which lead to a moment of confusion and then concern.
"What are you doing here?" asked Katara
"Weren't you going to go looking for Aapa?" Sakura asked frowning slightly
"Something stopped me, something big." Aang told them with a concerned look.
"What exactly?" asked Sakura with a hint of nervousness in her voice.
Reaching the wall, Toph and Aang earth bended them up to the top of it; that's where they all saw the giant drill that was heading right for the wall. According to Aang this was an attack from the Fire Nation. To say the drill was big was an understatement...it was colossal.
"What do we do now?" Sakura asked
Just then a few men appeared from the other side of the wall "What are you people doing here? Civilian's aren't allowed on the wall."
Aang stepped forward "I'm the avatar; take me to whoever's in charge."
While the three refuges that were travelling with them had been taken off the wall and hopefully out of harm's way if they could figure out how to stop the drill; Sakura, Aang, Sokka, Katara and Toph were all taken by the earth kingdom soldiers to the general that was in charge of dealing with this dilemma.
The general was an elderly man with a goatee; while he welcomed the group's presence he told them that their help was not needed for this situation.
"You help is not needed." He said not in a scorning way more of a reassuring way.
"Not needed?" Aang asked in disbelief
"Not needed." Confirmed the general Saan
"I assure you the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall." He said "Many have tried to break through it but none of succeeded."
"What about the Dragon of the West; he got in." Toph interjected crossing her arms over her chest.
"You have got to tell me about that sometime." Sakura told her now intrigued.
"Technically yes but he was quickly expunged; nevertheless that's why the city is named Ba Sing Se-the impenetrable city. They don't call it Na Sing Se" he laughed before stopping suddenly "That means penetrable city."
Sakura rolled her eyes "Okay and what about the drill?"
"Don't you worry" the general said walking towards the edge of the wall "To stop it, I've sent an elite platoon of earth benders called the Terror team."
Sokka couldn't help but admire the group name which just made Sakura raise a pink eyebrow at him.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Sokka asked "It's a good group name!"
Sakura sighed and averted her attention to the open land where the drill was. She was curious to see some more bending in action.
They watched as the platoon attempted to intercept the drill but they were the size of ants in comparison. Their bending proved futile to stop the giant drill. The design of it disallowed them to stop it using earthbending. And although it was quite a distance away; the general was looking through a telescope and could see things clearly-including the two Fire Nation girls that were bringing the giant earth bender soldiers down like it was a day to day activities.
"We're doomed!" exclaimed the general which made Sokka smack him
"Get a hold of yourself!"
Toph jumped in as well "Maybe you'd like the avatar's help now?"
"Yes please." He said looking down.
"So the question is how are you we going to stop that thing?" Aang asked
The gang looked down at the drill getting closer to the wall slowly but surely. Sakura was also baffled as to what to do about this situation. Then she saw everyone turning to Sokka.
"What?" he asked
"You're the idea guy" Aang pointed out
Sokka narrowed his eyes "So I'm the only one who can ever come up with a plan? That's a lot of pressure."
"And also complaining guy." Katara added with a smile
"That I can live with."
"We've got injured over here." Shouted someone
Sakura and Katara immediately moved
There was a makeshift infirmary set up on the wall where all the soldiers that had been sent to stop the drill were now lying about in pain.
"I'll take the right side you take the left." Katara said
Sakura nodded and was off.
As they treated the men; they discovered that they all had the same problem, they were all paralysed. Sakura had checked for any signs of poison or points where needles may have entered to do this but there were none the only other thing she could think of that would be able to do this was-
"He's Chi is blocked." Katara explained coming up to her "I've just talked to one of the soldiers and he said that he was hit by a bunch of quick jabs. I know who did it to."
Sakura looked up at Katara "You do?"
"Yes, it was Tylee. She's a girl from the Fire Nation and she's able to take peoples bending away and paralyse them by hitting certain points in the human body."
To say that Sakura wasn't impressed would be a lie, hitting the right pressure points in the human body especially during battle was no easy task. In her world, to block someone's chakra they have to physically be able to see the network-meaning that in this world people must have a network similar but it's chi; the network should also be a lot less complex than the chakra network because only people like the Hyuga's who are able to see through their opponents know the points to hit; not to mention to block chakra they have to hit it with chakra.
"So she blocked off their chi huh? That's impressive." Sakura said
"She's not even the real problem." Aang said
"He's right." Sokka said "If she's here; then that means that the fire nation princess Azula is here as well."
"You guys sure have a lot of enemies." Sakura said
"That's not even the half of it." Toph told her "You should see her brother."
"But they all derive from the Fire Nation." Sokka added
Sakura nodded; she was really starting to truly understand the state of this world and the conditions that this war had left them in.
Something clicked in Sakura's mind that almost made her laugh-no matter where she went she would always have to fight. Be it her world or another. Her world...now that was a thought that hadn't crossed her mind for a few hours...
'Not the time' she thought quickly shaking her head
For now she would focus on healing these men.
"I'm going to try something." Sakura said placing her two fingers together and allowing chakra to flow from it.
She closed her eyes and focused as she drew her fingers over the one earth benders chest and then quickly jabbed him at certain points.
The earth bender gasped before sitting up; able to move now.
"What-
Sakura smirked "Thought so."
"What did you do?" asked Katara in awe
Holding up her fingers she began to explain "I coated my fingers in chakra to make direct contact with the points were the chi was being blocked"
Katara appeared to become more and more impressed with the pinkette.
"That's incredible; we really could've used you back in Omashu when we had to go up against her but how did you know where they were?"
She placed a hand on her villager's headband "I'm a medical ninja; I know the human body inside and out as well and also where I come from we have a clan that specialises in using this sort of technique for combat. A friend of mine who's part of that clan taught me some of the basic and easiest pressure points to hit even with the naked eye. It's really an amazing technique; they're able to take down their opponents from the inside."
It wasn't a lie. Sakura had been taught where the basic pressure points lie in the human body thanks to her friend Hinata; her medical ninjutsu also aided in that but not as much when it came to extreme detail that Sakura had spent months perfecting considering she didn't have the eyes for it like her friend.
"The inside huh?" Katara said "That's how Tylee takes out her opponents as well."
Sokka jumped "That's it!"
"What's it?" asked Aang
"Take down from the inside! That's what we'll do to take down the drill!"
"By hitting its pressure points!" Toph exclaimed catching up
Aang walked over to see the drill "We'll take it down from the inside."
Now they stood from the front lines; outside of the wall in the open plane of land; in front of the giant drill coming towards them. Sakura for a fact knew that even she couldn't destroy that thing with her super strength...THAT THING COULD DRILL THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS THAT SHE SMASHED.
And they were about to get even closer to it.
"Once I whip up some cover you're not going to be able to see very well so stick close to me." Toph instructed before she raised her arms and created a mist of dust that would keep them hidden from their enemies.
As the smoke cleared Toph created a hole in the ground and instructed everyone to go in. After they dived in she closed it up again.
"It's so dark down here; I can't see a thing." Everyone heard Sokka complain
"Oh no what a nightmare!" Toph mocked
"Sorry"
When they submerged from the earth they were directly under the drill now. Sokka directed them to an opening at the bottom and Aang jumped up; hanging by a pole he hoisted up Sokka and Katara and waited for Sakura and Toph to take his hands but they didn't.'
"What are you doing?"
"I'm not going in that metal monster, I can't bend in there; I'll try to slow it down here." Toph said
"I'm going to help" Sakura said
"Okay good luck"
With that the team began their mission to stop the drill.
Toph bent two rocks on either side of the drill and told Sakura to go to the other one so that they could hold back the drill. Pushing chakra to her fists Sakura placed them on the rock and held her footing.
The drill began to slow down...
"I can't believe this; how strong are you?!" Toph asked surprised to see that the drill had actually slowed down quite a bit.
Sakura laughed humourlessly "Not strong enough to completely stop this thing sadly."
"We'll do our part while Aang, Sokka and Katara do theirs."
"Right."
Inside of the drill with Katara; Aang and Sokka were making their way through the large machine but it was just too big; it was like wondering around giant metal maize without a clue of where to go. Luckily Sokka was there with a plan.
He had taken his weapon and smashed a part of the piping which had begun spewing out steam. He explained to Aang and Katara that a machine this size would need engineers and that breaking something would get their attention.
He was right.
When the engineer came with the schematics of the drill, Katara had frozen him with the excess steam and then Sokka took the schematics.
"Nice thinking Sokka." Aang complimented
"I try." He said with a confident smile before he laid out the plans "It looks like the drill is made up of two main structures, there's the inner mechanism where we are now and the outer shell. The inner part and outer part are connected by these braces so if we cut through them the entire thing will collapse!"
Their plan was in motion. All they could do now was hope for no more complications.
'Come on don't give in!' Sakura told herself as she felt sweat dripping down her forehead. Her muscles were aching from the strain.
She wasn't sure how much longer they would be able to last before the drill reached the wall.
"How you doing over there Toph!" Sakura screamed
"Wishing Twinkle Toes would hurry up!" Toph screamed back as the drill continued to progress with a disdained expression.
"Looks like just one of me isn't going to cut it." said Sakura
"What are you up to?" asked Toph
Sakura smiled...
When the three friends reached their destination of the drill they were not expecting the braces to be so big and thick that it would take so much time and effort to cut through just one. They had wasted a full fifteen minutes already and were still cutting through the braces. Aang and Katara were panting as they passed the water blade two each other through the brace.
While Sokka watched in full spirits.
"Come on team don't quit now we're-
He stopped when Katara turned around have gave him a menacing expression
"I mean you're almost there!"
A few more dices and the brace was cut through; everyone watched with hopeful expressions but that quickly vanished when the brace slid slightly from its place but no further.
Katara sighed "At this rate we won't be able to do enough damage before the drill reaches the wall."
Aang sat on the ground "I don't know how many more of those I have in me."
"What's taking you guys so long? We can't keep this up for much longer!" a familiar voice yelled
Landing on the metal stands; Sakura appeared in front of the tree "Toph and I can't keep this up."
"Sakura what are you doing here? You're supposed to be helping Toph." Sokka said
Sakura rolled her eyes "I am."
Sokka pointed at her "Clearly you're not you're right here!"
"I'm actually a clone." 'Sakura' said pointing to herself "The original Sakura is still out there helping Toph; she wanted to know if you found a way to take down the drill yet."
"A CLONE." Sokka, Katara and Aang shouted
The Sakura clone winced "Yes; a clone. There's no time for explanations right now; the drills about to hit the wall so real Sakura sent me here to see if I could help."
Aang pointed to the brace they had just cut "We've got to destroy the braces so that the drill will collapse but it's too thick and it took us this much time just to cut through one!"
Clone Sakura appeared in thought before pulling her fist back "Stand back."
Running forward Sakura threw a punch at the brace which sent it shaking and them sliding off completely from its place...
"ALRIGHT" cheered Sokka
Sakura panted heavily; she looked just as tired as Aang and Katara
"Are you alright?" asked Aang
"I'm low on chakra; we both are." Sakura explained "I don't know if I'll be able to break through all of the braces."
"That's what we were thinking to." Katara said "It's too big."
"I can probably punch a couple of them in but-
"We don't know how long that'll take." Sokka finished
Just then the entire drill started shaking.
"Did you hear that?" Sokka asked "We took it down. We better get out of here fast."
They started to head toward the way they came until they heard someone speaking on the intercom
"Congratulations crew; the drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory!"
"Oh boy" Sakura muttered
Sakura panted as she held out the drill; the pressure was becoming too much and she wasn't sure how much longer this would last. The drill had just made contact with the wall even after she had Toph attempted to slow it down some more. She had done all she could to give them time but now it looked like they were in for the final countdown.
She had sent her clone in after Katara, Aang and Sokka so that they knew to hurry it up but they might not have figured out a way to destroy the drill yet.
'What now?'
"This is bad; really bad." Katara said
"We're putting everything we got into busting these braces but it's taking too long!"
At Sokka's statement a stroke of realisation hit Aang "Maybe we don't need to cut all the way through. Toph has been teaching me that you shouldn't give one hundred percent energy into any one strike. Sokka take a fighting stance."
Sokka did as told as Aang demonstrated his newly found idea "You've gotta be quick and accurate, hit a serious of points and break your opponents stance and when he's reeling back you deliver the final blow, his own weight becomes his down fall."
Aang hit Sokka with a few light blows to break his stance and then hit him lightly on the head that made him fall down; enough of a demonstration to get his point across.
The clone gasped and smiled "That's brilliant!"
"So we just need to weaken the braces instead of cutting all the way through" Katara said
"Then we'll go to the top and deliver the final blow." Aang pointed to the top of the drill
"And boom; it all comes crashing down." Sokka finished
Aang looked at them with a serious expression "Everyone inside that wall-the whole world is counting on us."
"The whole world minus the Fire Nation." Added Sokka
Sakura sighed softly in content, she knew that it was because she was missing her friends back home but she couldn't help the warm flutter in her chest as she watched everyone work together to help others. It was what she used to do with her friends back in her world-they'd put their lives on the line and always look out for one another working together never apart and now she was doing it here with these people she felt she could call her friends as well.
"What is it?" asked Katara
"Nothing...just a familiar feeling; I'll help you guys weaken the braces. I've still got a couple of punches in me."
Sakura; Aang and Katara proceeded to weaken the rest of the braces. Aang and Katara using water bending while Sakura used her chakra coated punches and kicks to dent and thin out the braces leaving them ready to just fall apart.
After a few more minutes they were almost finished with all of the braces. The Sakura clone ran over to Aang and Katara as they were cutting through the brace.
"I'm done on my end."
Sokka grinned and nodded "Good work team avatar now all we have to do is-DUCK"
A flash of blue flames barely missed Sokka alerting everyone else to find the cause of it; Sakura could feel its intense heat and shifted her eyes to where the blast had come from.
There on one of the upper braces they saw three girls-about their age looking at them. There was a girl with long dark Chinese styled hair and dark narrow eyes and pale skin; this girl's name was Mei. On the other side there was a girl clad in an outfit that made Sakura actually think it was way too much pink; she had light brown hair that was tied in a braid and light brown eyes; unknown to Sakura this was Tylee.
Then there was the girl in the middle who simply screamed power; she wore red and black armour like outfit; had dark hair and gold coloured eyes. This was the princess of the Fire Nation; Azula.
"Wow you were right Azula, it is the avatar" Tylee said looking down at them; she smiled when her sight landed on Sokka "And friends..."
Sokka looked baffled first before waving at her flirtatiously "Hey"
Sakura shook her head while Katara just grabbed her brother and dragged him out of the room so that they could make their escape.
"So I take it those are the girls you warned me about?" Sakura asked as she ran down the hall.
"Yeah; but since you're a clone are we gonna have to explain everything to the other Sakura?" asked Katara
"No; she'll have all this information when I disappear."
"HUH"
"Explanations can come after we escape!" exclaimed Sakura
When they came along crossroads in the drill Aang spoke "You guys get out of here; I know what I need to do."
"I'm coming with." Clone Sakura interrupted following Aang's path
"Wait" Katara called before pulling off the sac of water from her shoulder "You need this more than me."
They split up then knowing that the girls wouldn't be far behind.
"So we're going to destroy the drill?" Sakura asked
Aang nodded "Yeah; think you can keep up?"
The Sakura clone smirked widely "Think you can?"
For two people who were currently running for their lives; they were treating it like a game as they raced to see who would get out of the drill first.
Sakura gasped as she saw the back of the drill; there was a kind of muddy substance exiting it "What is that?"
the drill continued to move forward; she looked at Toph "I think we've done all we can."
"You're right" Toph said back removing the rocks "Besides Katara and Sokka are out of there now; they're at the back of the drill."
Sakura pulled a face when she saw all of the sludge coming out of the drill and wondered how exactly they got out of there.
Sakura clone, Aang and Momo had gotten to the top of the drill; it was a tie in the race. Now they had to focus on delivering the final blow to the drill.
"This looks like a good spot" Aang said as they reached near the part where the drill pushing through the wall.
Rocks began falling down from the earth benders above; the Sakura clone was quick to react and punched a couple out of Aang's way.
"I've got you covered" she said as she jumped into the air to get rid of another rock.
Aang started to use the water Katara had given him to slice through the metal.
Back on Katara and Sokka's end at the end of the drill; Katara and Sokka had escaped through the pipes but Tylee had followed them while Mei-who refused to touch the disgusting substance stayed behind. Katara had blocked up the exit for the sludge so that Tylee couldn't get them and so that pressure in the drill would build.
After a couple of minutes Aang was almost finished creating the point for the final blow while Sakura continued to deflect the blows of the rocks.
Aang stopped panting heavily; Momo still on his back "What I'd give to be a metal bender..."
Clone Sakura giggled before her eyes widened when she spotted something behind Aang. Azula had appeared on the drill coming towards Aang, she shot blue flames towards him. The clone Sakura jumped in front of him and took the blow; she then vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Sakura!" exclaimed Aang forgetting for a moment that she was only a clone of the real Sakura.
Azula stood in the distance with a smirk on her face.
"Momo, get out of here!" Aang ordered the lemur who quickly fled off his shoulder and into the air.
Aang took up a stance waiting for Azula to attack; feet apart; knees slightly bent at a 90 degree angle; arms up and ready to bend.
Azula swung her arms and blue flames were fired at Aang who ducked and countered with a back kick sending a gust of wind towards Azula but she also stepped out of the way before shooting at him again. While Aang used water whips to try and hit her; she simply countered.
This back and forth continued until rocks started falling towards them again forcing the two to duck and doge.
When the rain of rocks finally stopped the battle continued as Aang created a rock wall to shield himself and shoot rocks at Azula.
She however continued to effectively doge them and countered with her own attacks.
As Aang launched another rock at her; she jumped into the air and fire bended with her feet kicking out the flames sending it towards Aang; breaking down his rock shield. Aang hit the wall; falling unconscious.
Azula smirked as she headed towards the avatar to finish the job however something quick and sliver crossed the side of her; she felt a sharp pain on her cheek as the skin was torn and then the warm feeling of blood dripping down.
Turning around quickly; she saw a pink haired girl-obviously Sakura.
"Stay away from him." Sakura warned
Azula raised an eyebrow "Oh; haven't seen you around before. Think I would remember a girl with such an abomination for a hair colour."
Clenching her fists Sakura got into a fighting stance "If you want Aang you're going to have to get through me."
Raising her hand Azula fire bended aiming at Sakura but the pinkette could've expected that and being a medical ninja who always had to make sure that she never got injured herself so that she would be able to heal her teammates made her excel at defence.
Although her offence was strong too.
Sakura could feel the heat radiating from the flames as she stepped out of the way; she wouldn't want to get burned by those.
"You're rather quick on your feet." Azula commented slyly
This caused the pinkette to smirk "You haven't seen anything yet!"
Fire began coming towards her at intense speed but thanks to chakra coated legs; she was able to move faster. Sakura was starting to hypothesise that while benders have a natural gift of bending an element much easily to their will than a ninja who has to use hand signs; in comparison to a ninja they were physically weaker. As far as agility and strength went.
Plus a ninja would have a lot more tricks up their sleeves than one element.
Now it was time to test that theory.
Sakura did a few hand signs before running towards Azula-the Fire Nation princess having no clue behind the pinkette's hand signs continued to strike; punching fists of flames at her. Sakura continued to move pass the flames with easy. Having dealt with dodging and fighting over a hundred enemies at a time; this sort of thing came naturally to her after all her training.
"Take this!"
Azula brought her hands together and unleashed a large amount of flames at Sakura. The pinkette was hit by the flames making Azula's smile broaden however when it cleared Azula didn't find a body...only a log.
"Where-
"Right here!" Sakura yelled
Looking up Azula saw Sakura falling down from a great height; she threw a kunai at Azula but not directly; instead it landed right in front of her. Then she saw there was a piece of paper attached to it. The bomb wasn't very large but the explosion was enough to push Azula back several feet. Sakura landed down gracefully back on the drill before rushing over to Aang to help him. The drill had already broken through the wall and was continuing; if they didn't stop this now there would be no hope.
"Aang!" exclaimed Sakura rushing towards him; she grabbed the small boy and hoisted him up. Aang's eyes began to flutter open slowly.
Sakura smiled in relief but that didn't last long when Aang's eyes widened as he looked behind her; he quickly pushed Sakura out of the way as Azula fired at them and then earth bent rock onto his arm and got into a fighting stance.
However just as the two were about to continue their battle; the water and earth mixed sludge erupted from the front of the drill; with Toph and Katara now plugging up the back it was starting to overflow in the pipes.
As Azula ran towards them she slipped on the sludge and knocked into them; Sakura and Azula were sent flying on one side while Aang was on the other.
Quickly concentrating chakra to her feet Sakura stopped sliding while Azula had also somehow managed to stop herself from falling off the drill.
Sakura started to quickly run up to sides to go and help Aang only to find him already back on top thanks to Momo who had helped him.
They went to the mark that Aang had made on the drill "Now all we need is-
A rock fell on the drill near them
"For once that is what we need." Aang said as he moved the rock in front of him; he bent the rock to shape like a nail and placed it in the mark.
"You should probably deliver the final blow." Sakura said panting softly "I'm running low on chakra"
Plus she realised that instead of nailing the rock into the drill she might accidently smash the rock into tiny pieces.
Aang nodded before he created an air sphere under his body and started to travel to the top of the wall until it vanished; then coming down the wall by running he prepared to jump.
Azula had come back from the side of the drill and was getting ready to strike again but Sakura appeared in front of her quickly. Drawing back her fist Sakura threw a punch in the fire princesses gut and sent her flying back with immense power.
Sakura nearly went flying back herself when Aang landed on the rock. The braces of the drill all snapped under the pressure and the slurry exploded all around the drill covering everything...and everyone.
Wiping away the sludge as Momo landed on his shoulder licking it making Sakura cringe he smiled at her.
"You did it Aang!" Sakura praised
"No WE did it; all of us together as a team!" Aang said
'Team huh?' Sakura thought; it's been a while since she's heard something like that...
Sakura shivered as she looked down at her form covered in the disgusting gunk "Not sure it was worth it though."
They started laughing.
Today was Sakura's first battle with the Fire Nation and she was happy that she was able to help Aang and everyone else. Yet Sakura failed to realise the mistake she had made giving into her heart's desire.
It would bring about challenges that would push her to limits she's never reached before.
That's all for now but another chapter will be coming really soon (sooner than you might think)
Don't forget to review!