Uzumaki's Wrath
Chapter 5
"What's out here?" Sokka asked. The group was currently in a while open area filled with lot's of holes and barely any grass. After Aang finally got the hand of earth bending and with Toph and Naruto 'teaching' him more earth bending skills, the young avatar thought it was time for a small vacation.
Naruto was like Toph and could see through earth bending like she did, so when he tapped his foot, he smirked seeing all the small life forms. What are you planning, Aang?
"A lot actually." Toph said as she put her hand on the ground to better 'see'. "There's hundreds of little-"
"Shh, I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise." Aang said before he played a few tunes on his flute. Meer cat like creatures came up from the ground and sung along. "Yeah! I am putting an orchestra together!" the avatar cheered as momo tried to get at the creatures.
"Orchastra huh? Well la de da." Sokka said but to him, he was mocked by the creatures whey they copied him.
"Heh, I'll agree with the simpleton on this one." Kyuubi said boredly from atop of Appa head. "This is a bit boring in my opinion."
"Oh and what do you think is fun to do with these guys?" Aang asked.
Kyuubi smirked. "Lunch." He said while Naruto smacked his head as Aang went a little green. 'Of course with my blond friend here, this could be an opportune for a song."
Naruto smiled knowingly at that. "You know, I have one song in mind. Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase."
Kyuubi growled, he did not like this song that much, but it was catchy and it seemed that the Avatar was playing along with his flute, making the creatures sing along. He sighed, might as well join in since the others were clueless. "Hakuna Matata, ain't no passing craze!"
Naruto decided to do a little dance as he continued, "It means no worries, for the rest of your days."
Kyuubi jumped from Appa's head and landed on the blond's head they continued, "It our problem free, Philosophy. Hakuna Matata!"
Aang finally decided to asked something, "What's Hakuna Matata?" asking the question that was on all their minds.
"Yeah. It our motto." Kyuubi said with a smirk.
"What a motto?" Aang asked.
"Nothing. What's a-motto with you!" Naruto saidm slapping the kid's back before the two fell over laughing and even Sokka seemed to get it because he was laughing too.
"Ok ok, that was a good set up, but seriously we should be making plans!" Sokka said.
"We did make plans." Toph replied with a smile. "We are all picking mini vacations.
"There's no time for vacations." Sokka shouted.
"I am learning the elements as fast as I can. I practice hard every day with Toph, Naruto, and Katara. I have been training my arrow off!"
"Yeah, what's wrong with having a little fun in our down time?" Katara asked.
"Heh, all work and no play makes Aang a dull boy." Naruto commented, getting a laugh from the boy and others.
"Even if you do master all the elements, then what? It is not like we have a map of the Fire Nation. Should we just head west til we reach the Fire Lord's house?" Sokka ranted. "Knock Knock, hello? Fire Lord, anybody home? I don't think so! We some intelligence if we are going to win this war!" Aang responded by blowing on his flute, making a goffer pop out of the hole he was standing over.
Laughing, Katara said, "Ok, we'll finish our vacations and then we will look for Sokka's…intelligence."
Which made them all laugh at the boy's expense before Naruto added, "Or what's left of it?"
After she laughed, Toph thought of something. "Hey Naruto, didn't you travel to the Fire Nation?" She asked. He did tell that he traveled a lot and what happened that day.
Naruto shook his head, "I may have a grudge against the Fire Nation, but not even I am that stupid to just walk in their country alone and try and destroy them."
"Oh." She said with scratching the back of her neck.
"It's no biggie." Naruto said with a smile and somehow, she could see he was smiling, but she was not sure. It was hard for her to tell his mood nowadays. Back then, it was so simple, but not now. "Anyway, let's go see what's the next place we have to go."
As it turned out, it was Katara turn to pick their next destination. So Aang pulled out a map to let her pick. "How about the Misty Palms Oasis? That sounds refreshing"
"Oh yeah, I've been there. It's a pristine natural ice spring and I don't usually use the word pristine." Aang said. "It's one of Nature's wonders."
XXX
When they got there, it was in the middle of the desert and it looked like a bunch of mercs and other people ran the place because it looked like crap. Even the Ice Spring that must have been huge the last time that Aang had been there was now a small husk and a dog constantly licked it, which none blamed it since being in the desert was freaking hot. They go from mountain terrain to desert terrain, fun.
"One of Nature's wonders my ass!" Naruto deadpanned.
"Must've change ownership since my last visit." Aang said nervously.
"Well, considering that was a hundred years ago, I would say...no duh." Naruto said, making Sokka snicker. It seemed they had another person that was sarcastic.
As soon as they walked in, the sign that was above them fell down and shattered into pieces. Naruto just shook his head as he continued to walk. Normally, he would be wearing his cloak, but since it was black and they were in the freaking desert, he decided to just wear a pair of black pants and an orange shirt. "Ugh….I need to get new clothes."
As they walking into a bar of sorts, a sand bender spat at Sokka's feet and if Katara and Naruto hadn't stopped him, there would have been a fight.
Once inside, they watched a man at the counter chop up a few fruit rapidly with two swords, which was pretty impressive as the man dumped all of that into an ice bowl….that somehow was not melting. Sokka put on a thoughtful look as he said, "I don't see anything wrong with getting one of those fruity beverages while we plan our strategy."
As he got the fruit bowls, Aang bumped into the man who just got the fruit bowl and got everything on him. Aang blinked before saying, "No worries, I clean up easily." He then used air bending to clean his clothes.
The man gasped and said, "You're a living relic!"
Well considering how old the kid is, you're not far off old guy. Naruto thought.
"Thanks, I try." Aang said with a smile.
"An Air Nomad, right in front of me!" The man continued. "I'm Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University."
Now this caught Naruto attention as he tuned out the professor asking Aang questions about the air benders and such. Maybe this man knew something about his time! As he thought about this, he sat down to Toph before she kicked him off the chair to use it as a stool, so the blond just used a different chair while propping up his legs on the table and sipped his fruit bowl that Sokka got them.
"So professor, do you have a map? Our's is a little out dated and the one Naruto had was all ripped up and hand mud and other stains on it." Sokka asked.
"Certainly!" the professor said a she laid one out on the table.
Sokka instantly scanned the map before complaining about it. "What? No Fire Nation? Doesn't anyone have a good map of that place?"
"Doubtful." Naruto muttered.
"you have made a lot of trips into the desert." Katara observed.
"All in vain I'm afraid." Zei said sadly. "I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, But I haven't managed to find the crown jewel. Wong Shi Tong's Library."
"You've spent years walking through the desert just to find some old guy's library?" Toph asked
"His library is more valuable than gold little lady." The professor continued. "It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge and knowledge" he then paused for dramatic purposes before saying, "is priceless."
Toph had a dead panned look on her face as she said, "hmm, sounds like good times."
"Neeerd." Naruto whispered to himself that only Toph caught and smirked.
"Oh it is!" The professor said, not catching what the blond said, "According to legend, it was built by the great knowledge spirit Wong Shi Tong, with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers."
"Oh, so this spirit has attractive assistants huh?"
"No fool, he means actual foxes." Kyuuib commented as he popped out of Naruto's hair in his small form, making the professor gasp. "Yes, I am a talking fox, get over it. And we foxes are able to get into tricky places to find things. Also with our natures, we can trick fools like pony tail into giving up their information."
Sokka gained a tick mark on his head when the Kyuubi insulted his intelligence…again. Anyway, the professor continued, "Wong Shi Tong and his knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world and put them on display for all to read, so that we might better ourselves."
"If this place has books from all over the world, do you think it has information on the Fire Nation, a map maybe?" Sokka asked eagerly.
"I wouldn't know, but if such a thing exists, it's in Wong Shi Tong's library." Zei replied.
Sokka put on a thoughtful look before he said while pointing dramatically in the air, "That settles it! Aang, I do believe it is my turn. I want to spend my vacation at…THE LIBRARY!"
"Ah hey, what about me and Naruto?" Toph asked. "When do we get to pick?'
"You gotta work here a little longer before you're qualified for vacation time." Sokka said with crossed arms while Toph hmphed as she slammed her bowl on the table. Naruto didn't seem all that bothered by it. He had the bowl on his face, trying to cool down.
"Of course there is the matter of finding it." Zei cut in. "I've made several trips into the Desert and I've almost died each time. I am afraid that desert is impossible to cross."
Aang, Sokka, and Naruto all looked each other before Sokka smirked and said, "Professor, would you like see our Sky Bison?'
"A Sky Bison!" Zei shouted. "You actually have one?"
XXX
"Sand benders! Away from the Sky Bison!" Zei commanded as he stopped them from taking Appa as they exited the bar. They watched as the Sand fled by way their sand boats.
Naruto rose an eyebrow. I have heard of these guys, let's just hope it is not true.
While in the air, thanks to Appa, the professor crawled up to the beast's head and said, "Tell me Sky Bison, are you the last of your kind?"
ROAR! (YES!)
"Oh delightful! If only I spoke his tongue!" Zei spoke while rubbing the beast's head. "Oh the stories this beast could tell." Momo decided to chip in with his special brand of humor that a lemur could have.
(what about me?)
"Shush chatty monkey!" Zei said.
"Wow," Aang said as he looked at the picture of the library. "Shouldn't be too hard to find a place like this out here."
XXX
"Ugh!" Toph complained, "does this place even exist?"
"Some say it doesn't!" Zei said happily.
Toph want to smack her face at that. "Shouldn't you have mentioned that before! AAH!" After a while of searching, Toph got back up and smirked before shouting, "THERE IT IS!" That made everyone look to where she was pointing before glaring at the girl. "That would it sound like when one of you spots it." She said while waving her hand over her eyes, telling them once again she was blind.
Naruto chuckled at that as he put his straw hat over the ice bowl that was on his head. He hated being hot. Looking over to the professor, who writing something down in his notebook. "Professor, you said finding lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, correct?"
"Why yes I have! It was so fun but also very dangerous." The man said.
"Then have you been to the Ruins of Konoha?"
That caught everyone's attention, but mostly Toph's and the professor's. "Why are you asking him about the place you were looking for?" Toph asked.
"Actually, I have, but it was very brief." Zei replied. "I was able to see the Fire Nation's origin, such a marvel! Oh! And I made trips into the other ruins as well! Well, except for the Ruins of Kiri and for some reason, that is in the Fire Nation."
"The Origin of the Water Tribe?" Naruto asked, making Katara and Sokka widen their eyes.
"Why yes it is?" Zei said with awe. "I see you are a fellow scholar!"
"No, I am just trying to find out about the past because…I am from that time."
"Please tell me! How did you get to this time period then?" Zei asked with wide eyes.
"If I remember correctly, the Spirit of the Six Paths Sage sent me." Naruto said with a shrug, not really caring about that anymore, but he was still grateful to the man.
"Incredible!" Zei said happily. "Another living relic! And one who was approached by the one who gave birth to ninjutsu which gave birth to the bending arts!"
"Ok, now I did not know that." Naruto said.
"Well it is similar to it." Kyuubi stated before he looked at Zei and said, "Oi and I am the great Kyuubi no Kitsune!"
"Most interesting," Zei stated as he looked at the fox with wide eyes. "So it was true. The ancient 9 or the Tailed Beasts, did lose their power to the ones known as the Jinchuriki! This is so amazing!"
"Yeah…amazing." Kyuubi and Naruto dead panned while Toph winced. She knew from the stories that Naruto used to tell that being a Jinchuriki was not fun. Katara also seemed to pick that up as well.
"Tell me, what is it that you would like to know?" Zei asked.
"Well a few things." Naruto began. "Where exactly are these Ruins, including the Ruin of Kumo. Where can I find the Final Scroll, which holds the remaining jutsu of the old world. And….what can you tell me about the Hyuuga?"
Zei and the others blinked stupidly at what Naruto want and before Zei said, "That…is something incredible! There are many back at the University that want to know some of the same things! Anyway, as for the Ruins of Kumo, you have to go mountain climbing and I think one of the Air Bending Temples is close to it, but unfortunately, that was another Ruin I was not able to go to."
"Wait, why would you want to know about those Hyuuga people?" asked Toph.
Naruto smiled. "It's a secret, but it will make you happy." Now that confused the girl to no end but she let it slid…for now."
"Right well, the Final Scroll was said to be located to be in a place called Iron Country, but no one knows where that truly is anymore. But I did hear a scholar say he saw one of the foxy knowledge seekers carrying a large scroll that looked like the Final Scroll. So I assume it would be in the Library."
Naruto sighed. "So it would seem that I am heading in the right direction." He commented.
"Yes it would see so!" Zei said happily before his expression grew serious. "Now, for the Hyuuga, you have to understand what happened in Konoha."
"What do you mean?" asked Aang, now interested seeing they were talking about the origin of the Fire Nation.
"You seem the Fire Nation was not always as ruthless as they are now. No, they were a peaceful ninja village that thrived on the power of the friendship and civility thanks to the teachings of the first three Hokages, mostly the Third Hokage."
"Heh, old man Sarutobi." Naruto smiled at the memory of the man as he took the picture he had taken from his office and handed it to the others.
"Wow, he looks a kind old grandfather." Katara commented with a smile, making Aang nod, but Sokka looked skeptical.
"Yes yes. This man was said to be the God of Shinobi and the Professor for his exploits in the ninja world. Add to the fact that he had lived through three dated wars in his time is incredible!" Zei gushed. "However, he was old and he did choose a successor, but he was said to have died fighting the Kyuubi no Kitsune." He then showed them a picture of what the fox used to look like and Sokka paled.
"Seriously?"
"Oh those were good times, when I had all my power and could sense Hatred in the hearts of man that I would soon destroy." Kyuubi reminisced, getting sweat drops from all present.
"Yes and when he died sealing it away in a young baby, some believe it was his own child since he was such a noble person." Zei said, getting a smile from Naruto. " So the Third re took his position for a short time before he was his killed by his rogue student, Orochimaru." At that, clenched his fist until knuckles were white and thanks to the vibrations that he was causing, Toph saw this, making her feel sad for her friend.
"So when the new Hokage was chosen, they chose one of the great Hokage's students, Tsunade Senju, who was the grandchild of the First Hokage." Zei continued, getting wide eyes from the group. "So while she had to deal with the village and an impending doom from a group that symbolizes the Red Dawn, she was being undermined by her council and most specifically a man that the Third Hokage fought for the title of Hokage. He eventually became the Last Hokage and through that act, that set Konoha down the dark path that we see today."
"But what about the Hyuuga?" asked Toph, now very interested,
"Ah, now while under the rule of Danzo, the man who succeeded Tsunade, the Hyuuga clan did not like where Konoha was headed and tried to leave. Danzo did not like that, as he saw everyone under his rule as tools and a defective tool needed to be dealt with. So he destroyed them all….well all but three who managed to escape with a group called the Rookie 10." Zei seemed to think hard on what next to say. "All I can say as where one of the Hyuuga went, is that a girl named Hinata Hyuuga went to the place of origin for the Earth Kingdom. A place called Tsuchi. And if I remember correctly, she became the head of the Bei Fong Family."
"That does explain a lot." Naruto said as he nodded to himself before taking out a picture of the girl that he had taken from that room. One look and Katara gasped before she cut her eyes to Toph.
The group grew quiet and Toph could not handle it anymore. "Now what is wrong?"
"This Hinata girl looks just like you, Toph." The girl said.
"What? Seriously?" Toph and wished she could see the picture herself.
"I don't see the resemblance." Sokka observed. "Besides, she is why too hot!" Aang wisely did not speak because Toph and Katara smacked the boy, making Naruto smirk.
"Yes and it is said that she is the reason that Tsuchi changed from the cold heartless people they were in that time to the Earth Kingdom you see today." Zei said with smile.
Naruto smiled, "It is hard to believe one person can change so many people." He then looked to Aang. "Of course I should not be surprised since the Avatar can do it." That made Aang smile the rub the back oh is head. "Say professor, I have a two more questions."
"Alright, what would you like to know?" Zei asked, eager to know what this inspiring young yellow haired boy wanted.
"What were the other Hidden Villages like before they changed and what were these Red Dawn people searching for?" Naruto asked.
"Oh this I gotta hear," Sokka said, thinking what his people use to be like.
"Well, the Origins of the Water Tribe are not pretty to be honest." Zei said nervously, getting odd looks from the two Water Tribe teens. "You see, this particular village was seen as excessively violent. They had a team called the Seven Swordsman of the Mist that were ruthless in their missions, leaving no enemy alive." At this Sokka winced. "However, that is not the bad part that we uncovered. What was is that they were always in civil war, not bothering to interact with the other ninja villages until Danzo came to power. What was odd though was they were at civil war with certain people in their village. Unlike the other village that seemed to like people with Kekkei Genkai, they did not and sot ways to destroy them because of their differences and that is what caused the war amongst themselves."
"That's horrible!" Katara all but yelled.
"I'll say, from what I heard, you guys are a lot better then your old selves now." Toph commented.
"Man, I am glad things have changed." Aang said sadly.
"So am I." Naruto grunted.
"Wait, what are Kekkei Genkai?" Sokka asked.
"They are powers that certain people had during that time." Professor Zei said. "One of them was very interesting to us. It was called the Dead Bone Pulse and it let the user use their bones as weapons, like a sword or something."
Sokka blinked before looking at his arm before he said, "Cool."
"Yes and there were two that were often talked about that were in Konoha." Zei continued. "The first was the Byakugan, which let the user see in all 360 degrees." Naruto smiled, he knew he had been right about that. "It seemed the Hyuuga possed this." Toph blinked at that. "The second was far darker. It was the Sharingan. Some called it the Cursed Eye and it belonged to the Uchiha can that was said to have been wiped out by all but two members. The older of the two being the one who did the slaughtering with an unknown alley. So with that, the younger one was steeped in his revenge and once it was done, he felt empty inside and returned to the village he once called home, even though he betrayed it for power for his revenge."
"Ok, that's nuts!" Sokka said while Aang and Katara looked a little green.
"I'll say. It seemed that clan was doomed from the start." Toph said.
"Some say it was." Zei said cryptically. "And it was the Uchiha who became Danzo's successor and the man who drove Konoha further down into the darkness." That made everyone quiet down at that. Toph however was worried about her blond friend. He was unusually quiet and by the vibrations he was putting out with his clenched fist, he was pissed.
Seeing as this was depressing them, Zei quickly changed the subject, "Anyway, the Origin of the Air Nomads is they are said to be from this desert." That made Aang widen his eyes.
"Really? We are from out here?" asked Aang as he sadly looked at the desert.
"Yes and the Village of Suna was not a very trusting place. They were often skeptical of outsiders but they were allayed with Konoha." Zei stated. The silence in the air was enough to tell what they were thinking. "And onto to Kumo, the Village of Lightning. Well, to be honest, there is not much known about them other than they were a military village and they took thing seriously, like strength. I do find it odd that they just disappeared."
"I could be possible that they left the Elemental Countries, not wanting to deal with the future Fire Nation." Naruto said, which got a shrug from Professor Zei.
"It is possible." The man said. "Now, this Red Dawn were after the Jinchuriki but no one knew why exactly. It was said, however, that their leader possessed the same eyes as the Great Sage of the Past."
"Interesting." Naruto said with a frown. If this leader was related to him, them why go after the other 8 and then him? It did not make sense.
"Of course, there were other thing that were uncovered as well." Zei stated.
"Oh and what would that be?" Toph asked.
"It seemed that another of the Third Hokage's students, Jiriaya the Toad Sage, was the teacher of the Red Dawn's leader." Naruto narrowed his eyes at that. Was this Tsunade the only student that stayed to the ideals of the Third Hokage? "It was also said that he was told a Prophecy. The Child of Phophecy would decide the fate of the world. He would be its Savior or Destruction."
That was grim thought to the gang, but Sokka asked, "So who was it."
"Some say it was the leader of the Red Dawn, but others thought he thought it was his supposed last student, the one he never got to teach. The fabled son of the Fourth Hokage." Zei explained.
Naruto gained a shocked look on his face as he fell back as he hat fell off his head. "N-no way." He got out.
"What?" Toph asked, worried at her friend's emotional state.
"I….am the boy that disappeared all those years ago. I am the son of the Fourth Hokage!" Naruto shouted.
"What!" Sokka yelled. "So we got the Avatar AND the Child of Prophecy to deal with. Oh boy."
"Wait, how do you know this Naruto?" Katara asked.
"I found out when I went to the Ruins of Konoha, my old home." Naruto said as he rooted around in his pack to find a picture of his parents.
Aang took one look at it and said. "Wow, you look just like your dad, but I never saw those hair colors other than on you."
"Whoa, red is very rare that yellow." Sokka comented.
"Just shows you how one of a kind Naruto is." Toph said with a smirk.
Naruto smiled until he gained a fearful look. "AANG! WATCH OUT!"
"Wha? HOLY CRAP!" Aang yelled as he pulled Appa out of the way of a giant hand made out of sand that seemed to have blue veins on it.
"What was that?" Sokka freaked.
"Something dangerous." Naruto responded.
"Yes and it would do to keep your guard up." Kyuubi stated.
"What do you think that was?" Katara asked.
Naruto and Kyuubi looked at each other and nodded. The fox then said, "I believe that was Shukaku, the one tailed demon. So like I said, please keep your guard up because he is insane."
That made them all sweat drop. Luckily, that gaint hand pushed them in the right direction because Sokka spotted a tower. Once they were there, they were depressed at first that it was not what they were looking for, but thanks to a gray fox going in the tower, they deduced that it was the library….just underground.
"THE LIBRARY IS UNDERGROUND?" Zei cried out. "My life's ambition full of sand!" His mood quickly changed as he took out a small scooper. "Well, time to start excavating!"
"Actually that won't be necessary. "Toph said as she put her hand on the tower. "The inside seems to be completely intact and it's huge!"
"That fox thingy went through a window,I say we climb in up there and give it a look." Sokka said before Kyuubi jumped on the boy's head.
"No. It is not a fox thingy boy! It is a fox. One of the only NORMAL creatures here!" The red fox complained. "So get it right genius or deal with me" The fox smiled evilly as his craws grew longer, making the boy sweat and nod his head rapidly. 'Good boy."
Toph chuckled at that before she said, "I say you guys go ahead without me."
"You've got something against libraries?" Katarar asked.
"I've held books before and I gotta tell you. They don't exactly do it for me." Toph said with a shrug.
"Oh right, sorry." Katara replied, remembering that the girl was blind.
"Let me know if they got something you can listen to." Toph smirked.
"I am going in." Naruto said, "What are you going to do Kyuubi?"
"Let's see, stay out here and be roast like a chicken or go inside where it is cool….ugh, tough choice but I am going to go in you fool!" Kyuubi said.
"Should have expected that." Naruto replied with a deadpanned expression. "Toph, you going to be alright out here with just Appa?" he asked while Aang was reassuring his large friend.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Go find that weird scroll of yours." Toph said waving him off with a smirk. She was annoyed that he was worrying about her but she was also touched.
"Ok then." Naruto said as he followed the other in via wall walking up the tower.
XXX
Gaara no Sabaku watch this all at a distance with narrowed eyes. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? You should have just let me kill them!" quaked the voice of Shukaku in his mini form. Once they landed in this world, they were no longer one and Shukaku lost most of his power. That and no one could take him seriously with his new voice.
"Mother, please be patient." Gaara stated. "I will take them on when I feel ready."
"Ugh!" Shukaku screamed as he jumped on Gaara's head. "Come on man!"
XXX
"Oh! It is breath taking. The spirits paid no expense when designing this place. Look at those beautiful buttresses!" That made the boys giggle like little kids. "What's funny?"
"Nothing!" Aang amended. "We just like architecture."
"As do I!" Zei stated as he looked around in wonder.
""Still funny though." Naruto whisper with a smirk. Sokka, who heard him agreed.
When they finally got on to a landing, Professor Zei began to gush. "My word! The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile rendered avian…."he trailed off when he noticed everyone looking at him funny. Not understanding a word he was saying. "Um…nice owl."
Then they heard the noise of wings flapping, so they decided to hide behind a few pillars. What came was a giant black owl with a white face that was looking around for them. "I know your back there."
Professor Zei, all smiles, walked out from behind the pillar and right up to the giant owl. "Hello! I am Professor Zei, head of Anthrolpology at Ba Sing Se University."
The Owl looked at him for a second before saying, "You should leave the way you came, unless you want to be stuffed head of anthropology." That made the guy clutch his neck in fear.
"Are you the spirit who brought this library to the physical world?" Sokka said as they came out of hding, hoping to change the subject before it got worse.
"Indeed." The owl stated. "I am Wong Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things and you are obviously humans, which by the way are no longer permitted in my study."
"What do you have against humans?" Aang asked.
"Seems to be a lot with the way he said the word." Naruto replied with his arms crossed and his hat on his back. He still had the noticeably smaller ice bowl on his head though.
"Hmph! Human only bother learn thing to get the edge on other humans. Like that fire bending who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy." explained Wong before got in Sokka's face and asked, "So, who are you looking to destroy?"
"What? No no destroying. We're not into that." Sokka lied while waving his arms with a freaked out expression.
"Then why have you come here?" asked the owl spirit.
"Um…knowledge for knowledge's sake?"
"If you're going to lie to an all knowing spirit being, you should at least put some effort into it." The spirit dead panned.
"I'm not lying!" Sokka said quickly, "I am here with the Avatar and he is the bridge between our worlds, he'll vouch for me!" the teen said quickly while bringing said boy in front of him.
"Uh yeah…I'll vouch." Aang said nervously. "We will not abuse the knowledge in your library good spirit. You have my word."
"Hmm, very well. I will let you peruse my vast collection, but one condition. To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge." The owl spirit declared.
Professor Zei went first as he presented a large tomb to the owl. "Please accept this tomb as a donation to your library."
"First edition, very nice." The owl said crisply as he took it with his wing.
Katara decided to go next. "I have an authentic water bending scroll."
"Ooo, these illustrations are quite stylish." The owl stated as he took it.
"Uh…OH! I know!" Aang thought before he busted out his wanted poster.
"I suppose that counts."
It was Naruto's turn next as he walked up to the owl. "Ok, how about this little thing from the old world. A scroll on chakra control exercises."
The owl stared at the boy before saying. "A gift from the old world from the Child of Prophecy himself, I am flattered. I will make use of this."
"What? How did you know that?" Naruto asked.
"I'm all knowing, remember."
"Oh right." Naruto said sheepishly.
"Oi, Wong, do I need to give you anything. I am not human!" Kyuubi said as he popped out Naruto's hair.
"Kyuubi no Kitsune, it has been a while." The owl stated with some mirth. "Enjoy your imprisonment? With my knowledge of seals it should have been-"
"NERD!" Kyuubi shouted, getting a chuckle from Naruto and Sokka. "Come on man! I know what happened and I know seals!"
The great owl sighed. "Still the same no matter the size. No, I do not need any knowledge from you. I doubt you would be able to anyway."
Sokka walked up to the owl as Naruto restrained Kyuubi as the mini fox tried to attack Wong. "Oh great spirit, check this out!" he said as he created a knot from string. "Ta da!" The owl just stared at him. "It's a special knot that counts as knowledge!"
"You're not very bright, are you? Just like Kyuubi." Wong asked as he took the knot while Sokka and Kyuubi's eyebrows twitched at the jab. "Enjoy the library." The owl said as he flew off.
Sokka glared at the retreating form of the spirit and whispered. "Bright enough to fool you."
Kyuubi growled as he yelled at the retreating owl, "NEVER COMPARE ME TO A HUMAN! ESPECIALLY THIS ONE!"
"Kyuubi, just give it a rest." Naruto dead panned with a sigh.
"Ugh! One day I'll get that bastard." Kyuubi growled.
XXX
"So, you like flying?" Toph asked her giant bison companion. There was not much else to do while she waited. The bison just scratched its face. "Of course I am more comfortable on the ground where I can see. Well I don't 'see' the way you do. I feel the vibrations with my feet, but this sand is so loose and shifty that it makes everything look fuzzy."
ROAR! (Hey!)
"Not that there is anything wrong with fuzzy!" Toph amended. She stayed quiet until she started talking about her adventures as a kid with Naruto. Appa had no choice but to sit and listen and even he could tell that the girl felt something for the boy. Only problem was that he was an animal, so he culd not help her much.
XXX
The gang was currently searching the book cases for information. Sokka would stuff anything of use into his bag. Aang was siting against one the book cases looking at pictures. "Hey, look at these weird Lion turtle things!" He said as he held up the picture for them to see.
"Eh I've seen weirder." Sokka said as he took and book and stuffed it in his bag before walking away.
"Aang, did you know that you were left handed in another life?" Katara asked while looking at a book.
Aang smiled as he rubbed the back of his head. "I always knew I was special." He then looked around, waiting for Kyuubi to make a comment but he was not there. "Hey where are Naruto and Kyuubi."
"I am not sure." Kataara said thoughtfully, "They might be looking for that Final Scroll Professor Zei was talking about.
Sokka was only half listening as he wondered around. He soon came upon a lone pedestal with a burnt piece of paper on it. "The darkest day in Fire Nation history. It's got a date at the top but it doesn't say anything else." He said, mostly to himself as he cracked it open and took it before running off.
"Sokka, where are you going?"Aang asked, clueless to what was going on in the boy's head.
"I wanna know what happened to the Fire Nation on their darkest day." He said. "This could be promising, let's find Naruto and go see."
As soon as he said that, they heard a loud crash followed by the Kyuubi's laugh.
A few minutes before…
"Where would very old world things be located?" Naruto asked himself as he searched around.
"Who knows where that flying wind bag put the damn thing." Kyuubi growled. "but knowing him, he does not like war and since that knowledge is from your time and it is full of war, he probably would put it where most would think not to look."
"Where most would not look." Naruto thought aloud. He stopped at a book shelf and his eyes widened when he saw the Konoha symbol on the back of some of the books. There were books with clan symbols on them as well. Naruto instantly located an Uzumaki book and a Hyuuga book, along with some other random ones too read while they were flying. Taking both out and putting them in his bag for later, he never noticed a lone loose page fall from the book case, but the Kyuubi did and said nothing.
So when Naruto stepped on it, he slipped and fell. He tried to latch on the book case for support, ut since there were not a lot of books and he weighed more, it came crashing down.
"HA! You are such a clutz!" Kyuubi laughed.
"What happened here?" Katara asked in worry as eh and the others saw the mess.
"Oh, Naruto just slipped a fell on a loose page, taking everything down with him." Kyuubi said with a straight face.
"Ugh….that was not fun." Naruto muttered before his eyes widen and he cleared away some of the books to see a strange safe. "Ok….never thought a place like this would he in here."
"Ha! I was right." Kyuubi roared in victory. "See that Wong! I am smart!"
While the Kyuubi was gloating, that lone piece of paper that Naruto slipped on and seemed to have flown up when he did, floated down onto the safe. The moment it did, it began to glow. Naruto say the old village symbols on it, all five of them, along with very intricate seals connection them. The there was a flash of light, making them all shield their eyes.
When it dissipated, they saw that the door was gone. Naruto looked inside and found a large scroll inside, about the size of the Forbidden Scroll. "That is one big scroll." Aang replied with wide eyes.
"Yeah." Naruto said as he tried to open it, but to no avail. Frowning in thought, he decided to add chakra to it, but that only made it shrink in size to that of a normal scroll, making Sokka laugh a bit at that. Naruto scowled before he stowed it in his bag. He even took that odd piece of paper that unlocked the safe door, he was not sure why, but he did. " Well, have you guys found anything?"
"Yes, we came to get you." Sokka said. "I wanna know what happened to the Fire Nation on their darkest day." With that they took off to where the info would be, but when they got there, the place was all burnt out.
"Well, now we know why Wong mentioned there was a fire bender here before." Kyuubi said with wide eyes.
"That person must have been pissed that eh destroyed everything on the Fire Nation." Naruto commented.
"THAT SO UNFAIR!" Sokka screamed as he fell to his knees. "Just when I think I am one step ahead of the Fire Nation, it turns out they beat us here a long time ago. I need to know what happened that day."
Yip made them turn around to find a grey fox staring at them. Kyuubi rose a furry eyebrow but chose to stay quiet.
"Hello." Sokka said nervously. "Little weird fox guy."
"Sokka!"
"Sorry!" Sokka apologized as the fox pointed its body in a direction.
"Seems it is trying to assist you." Professor Zei reasoned.
"Um, sure. I guess I'll follow you."Sokka said before they all followed the gray fox to a large circular room with a strange dial in the middle and a fake sky above.
"This room is a true marvel! A mechanical wonder!" Zei gush as he looked around in awe. "It's a planetarium that shows the heavens moving!"
"Uh, this beautiful but how is this supposed to help us?" asked Sokka.
"It might show you what a certain day was like." Naruto commented. "Question is, how would one do it?"
"Is that an open ended question?" Kyuubi asked with a sly look.
"Oh shut up." Naruto said.
"Maybe these dial represent dates and times." Katara suggested as she looked at the odd device in the middle of the room. "Sokka, try entering that date from the parchment you took."
"SHH! Katara! Now in front of the fox he is with the owl!" Sokka whispered and fox whimpered at that.
Kyuubi grinned. "So you do have a brain! We foxes are known to be tricksters."
But he was ignored as Sokka and the others put in the date. It revealed that day to be a solar eclipse. "It's literally the darkest day in Fire Nation history!" Sokka shouted. "Now I get it! Something aweful happened that day, I don't know what, but I do know why. Fire benders lose their fire bending on a solar eclipse!" He said excited as he shook Aang, making the boy dizzy. "Sorry."
"That makes sense. I mean, think of what the lunar eclipse at the North Pole did to the water benders."
"What did you expect?" Naruto said, "Your complete opposites."
"Right! This is huge!" Katara said.
The fox whined. "Fine you earned it." Sokka said a she tossed a piece of meat at the fox. "We've have gotta get the this information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se. We wait for the next eclipse, when invade the Fire Nation when they are totally helpless. The Fire Lord is going down!"
"Sounds like a plan to me. Sounds like fun." Naruto said before a shadow was cast over him and other s looked scared. "There is a giant angry owl behind me isn't there?" They gave him a nod. "Just great."
XXX
Stopping here because i want to work on the next chapter of Guardian of the Sea and I love cliff hangers. Not to mention ther eare so many pages and it it is getting late so i am tired. SO tell me what you all think of the little history lesson and such. If Aang and the others are descendents of the Rookies, who? Also, where would there be good places for the Ruins of the other village be? I need some help with that.
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