Bodyguard of Azula

by Deus Swiftblade

Naruto is banished from Konoha but gives them the slip and boards a ship. Soon after, he is shipwrecked on Ember island and is saved by Azula. Three years later, Naruto is Azula's bodyguard while she hunts for the Avatar, but did he see the last of Konoha?

3. Omashu and Painful Reunions

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender

Bodyguard of Azula

Chapter 3: Omashu and Painful Reunions

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Bijū/spirit talking"

"Bijū/spirit thinking"

(Location: Omashu)

Katara, Aang and Sokka stared at what was in front of them, almost hoping that it was a dream. The city of Omashu stood in front of them, only now there was a Fire Nation banner flying over the city gates. There was a small smoke protruding from the upper level, indicating a presence of a new factory that the Fire Nation colonists must have built.

"I can't believe it," Aang said as he looked at the city. He looked at the siblings. "I know the war has spread far, but Omashu seemed to be untouchable."

"Up until now it was," Sokka stated, crossing his arms and looking at the city. "Now Ba Sing Se is the only great Earth Kingdom stronghold left." If he thought about it, it came across as more than a little troubling.

"This is horrible," Katara said as she walked up beside Aang. "But we have to move on." If the city was occupied, there was no chance of them being able to find Bumi.

"No," Aang replied defiantly. "I'm going in to find Bumi."

"Aang, stop," Sokka told him. "We don't even know if Bumi is…"

"What?" Aang interrupted him, suddenly angry. "If he's what?"

"Alive," he bluntly stated. Aang was outraged and Katara flashed him a dirty look. He ignored both. "You'll have to face the facts. Sooner or later, you're going to lose someone." He looked at his sister. "We should know."

Katara ignored her brother. "I know you had your heart set on Bumi," she told Aang, "but there are other people who can teach you Earthbending."

"This isn't about finding a teacher," he said stubbornly. "This is about finding my friend." He wasn't going to go until he knew that Bumi was alive.

"Alright, then how do we get in?" Sokka asked. Akela stiffened up as he sniffed the air. He turned around and growled, showing fangs. "What is it, Akela?" the Tribesman asked, turning to see what it was.

"Hey, the group with the white, six legged buffalo thingy, we're coming up behind you!" a voice call out. A boy riding a dog came up the slope. "How're you doing? The name's Kiba Inuzuka and this here is Akamaru," he introduced himself and the dog, who barked a greeting.

"Must you do that, Kiba? You'll scare people if you keep that up," another boy said as he joined Kiba.

"Oh, relax Shino. Their dog smelled us out before we showed our faces," Kiba replied.

Akela's growl got louder. "Hey! Akela is not a dog, he's a wolf!" Sokka shouted at the two.

Kiba looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry about that," he apologized. "I'm still learning, so your wolf smelled like a dog to me. No hard feelings right?" The last part was directed to Akela, who simply flicked his tail once. To Sokka, that meant Akela was thinking it over.

Shino turned to face the slope. "Are you coming, Hinata?" he called.

"I'll be right there. I'm not as fast as you guys," a girl said as she came up the slope.

Behind her was a woman who looked like she was in charge. "You should really stop charging off like that, Kiba," she said. "That's going to get you into trouble one of these days."

"Understood Kurenai-sensei," he answered, respectful.

Meanwhile, Sokka had his boomerang out and ready to use. "Okay, who are you people?" he demanded.

The woman who they now knew as Kurenai looked at them as if they had just appeared. "I apologize, my name is Kurenai Yūhi and I'm here to protect your group. These are my students, Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru," She pointed to the first boy and the dog, "Shino Aburame," she pointed to the second boy, "and Hinata Hyūga." She finished by pointing to the girl.

Sokka took a good long look at the people in front of him. Kurenai had what appeared to be some sort of shirt made from mesh with only one sleeve. The shirt was covered over with bandages with a pattern that seemed to resemble a flower stem of some kind with thorns. Though Sokka was smart enough to not gaze too long at the older woman's upper thighs, he noticed them covered in bandages. Her hair was long and black, but what the most remarkable thing about her were her eyes. They were red, but not Fire Nation red.

Kiba wore black pants and a black jacket that looked like leather to the Tribesman. He had brown shaggy hair, pronounced canine teeth, and had what look to be red tribal tattoos on his cheeks that almost look like fangs. Akamaru was, in a word, big. His fur was white while his ears had dark brown patches. Currently both he and Akela were having a canine version of a staring contest.

Shino just looked odd. He wore a dark jacket with a high collar that was upturned, blocking the bottom half of his face. He wore another jacket over the first that was dark green in color and had the hood up, covering the top of his head. He wore what appeared to be protective eyewear and had a satchel on his back. Sokka could've also sworn that he heard the sounds of bugs on Shino.

By contrast, Hinata's appearance was certainly an eye opener, to those onlookers who did not bother to gaze too long at her. She wore a jacket that was lavender and cream, had long sleeves and appeared to be baggy. She also wore navy blue pants. She wore her blue hair long and her eyes were very surprising. They were white with a tinge of lavender and had no pupils.

Despite the different clothes they were wearing, they all had one thing in common: they wore a headband (Kurenai, Shino, and Kiba had it on their forehead while Hinata wore hers around her neck) that had a strange symbol on it which almost looked like a leaf. "So we know who you are, now what are you doing here? Were you following us?" Sokka asked, ignoring Katara low whisper of "Sokka!"

"We were hired to protect you three," Kurenai explained.

"Who hired you?"

"I believe that it was a man called Arnook. He is the Chieftain of the Northern Water Tribe on this side of the planet." She pulled out a scroll, which had the contents of their mission inscribed inside, and handed it to him.

Katara had finally had enough and explained, "I'm sorry about my brother, he gets paranoid around strangers." Sometimes, she wished her brother would just relax a little.

Shino shook his head. "It is perfectly logical to be suspicious of people who you do not know claim that they are here to protect you. Your brother has nothing to apologize for."

"Alright then, I assume that you overheard our conversation?" Sokka asked Kurenai after he read the scroll and gave it back.

She nodded. "You plan to go into the city and rescue someone, right?"

"Right," he answered. "Now the question is how do we get inside?"

"My team will be able to get in easily enough. But I don't know if we can get you in the same way."

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of that," Aang chimed in.

"Alright, we'll meet up inside with the resistance," Sokka decided.

"Um…Sokka, how do you there's a resistance?" He was clearly confused by what the Tribesman said.

"Yeah, how do you know?" Katara repeated the question with a slightly snotty tone.

He looked at them both with a deadpan expression. "It's a big Earth Kingdom city that's completely occupied by Fire Nation troops. There's going to be a resistance in there, it's just a matter of finding them. Okay?"

"No, we're going to find Bumi!" Aang replied, almost shouting at him.

He sighed in annoyance and exasperation. "Alright, fine. But if we can't find him right away then we meet up with the resistance." He turned back to Kurenai. "Are you okay with this?"

She nodded. "That's fine. You should search for your friend during the night," she suggested. That way, they wouldn't be so easily found out.

"Okay, we'll look for Bumi until dawn, and then we meet up with the resistance." He looked around. "Sound good to everyone?" They all agreed. "It might be better to leave your dog with Appa and Akela," he told Kiba.

"Why should I do that?" Kiba answered, narrowing his eyes. He went everywhere with Akamaru. He wasn't going to leave him behind for no reasons.

"Because Earth Kingdom cities don't have dogs that big. He'll be an eyesore."

Kiba thought it over. Since they were a foreign land, it was best to play it safe and listen to the natives. "Good point." He turned to Akamaru, who had broken eye contact with Akela to look at him. "Akamaru, I need you to stay these two for now." He pointed to Akela and Appa, who was having one of his ears scratched by Hinata (and loving every minute of it) "Can you do that for me?"

Akamaru nodded and then turned back to Akela, to resume their contest. Aang, Katara and Sokka climbed onto Appa's back with Momo, Akela and Akamaru in tow. "We're off," Sokka said as Aang yip-yipped Appa into flying. As they flew below the bridge that led into Omashu, Sokka looked at Aang. "So how are we getting inside?" he asked as he and Katara threw on cloaks. They literally had to walk through the front gate last time and he doubted they could do that now.

"I know a secret passage," Aang answered as they landed in front of a ledge that had a big metal pipe sticking out of the mountain. He leapt off Appa onto the top of the pipe, recognizing it for the sewer grate he remembered.

"A secret passage? Why didn't we just use this last time?" Sokka demanded as the Air Nomad tried to open the sewer grate. He almost get swept away by green sludge-like water when the grate opened, making Appa fly away with Akela and Akamaru, with Momo was sitting on Katara's shoulder.

"Does that answer your question?" Aang asked before hopping into the pipe. Sokka stepped in and almost hurled from the smell. Taking a breath and pinching his nose, he walked forward into the pipe.

As they trekked through the water, which rapidly became steeper, both Aang and Katara tried to make sure they weren't swept down the pipe. Aang used his staff to bend the air in front of him to make a path while Katara bent the water to keep the path stable. Sokka caught the downside as he had to deal with the water hitting him in the face repeatedly by the water Katara bent. However he could tell that his sister was doing it on purpose.

When they finally got inside the city, it was already night. Aang had blasted a manhole cover to loosen it, and then opened it slightly to look around. When he didn't see anyone, he leapt out of the hole and was quickly followed by Katara. "That wasn't as bad as I thought," she commented.

They suddenly heard a moaning sound coming from the manhole. A green blob in the somewhat shape of a person climbed out and staggered towards them. Quickly getting over their shock after realizing who it was, Katara noticed some water in a nearby barrel. She bent the water inside the barrel to hit the thing, the result was the water washing the green muck off the person to reveal a very wet Sokka. Aang quickly followed up by bending air to dry him off.

Sokka stood there quietly for a moment before realizing there were little purple octopus-like creatures on him. Screaming hysterically, he tried to pull the two on his cheeks off with no success. "THEY WON'T LET GO! HELP!" he screamed before being tackled to a nearby wall by Aang.

"Stop making so much noise," the Airbender told him. 'It's just a purple pentapus." While Sokka whimpered a little and cringed, he reached for the pentapus on the Tribesman's left cheek and gave it a scratch on the head. Giving an eye-smile, it lifted its legs from Sokka's face and came off easily, leaving only red marks where the suction cups were.

As he rubbed his left cheek, Sokka tried the same method on the one on his right cheek. It met with the same results. As they got the third and final one off, the group heard someone call out "Hey!" Looking to where the voice was coming from, they saw three guards coming their way. Both Katara and Sokka quickly stood in front of Aang while he made a quick hat. "What are you kids doing out past curfew?" the lead guard demanded.

"Sorry, we were just on our way home," Katara explained before they start to walk away.

"Wait," the guard said as he noticed the red markings on Sokka's neck. "What's the matter with him?"

"Uh…" Katara took a quick look at Sokka's neck and came up with a lie. "He has pentapox, sir," she hurriedly explained as she turned Sokka around to face the guard. The guard walked up to Sokka and reached out to touch him. "Um… it's highly contagious."

Taking his cue from his sister, Sokka put on a miserable face and began to moan. "Uhhhh, it's so awful, I'm dying," he told the three guards as he lurched towards them.

"A-and deadly," Katara finished.

"Hey, I think I've heard of pentapox," said the lead guard as he backed away from Sokka before turning his head to face another of the guards. "Didn't your cousin Chang die of it?"

"We better go wash our hands, and burn our clothes!" the other guard stated before they turned around and ran away while Sokka threw in a few coughs for good measure.

When the guards were gone, Sokka turned around to see Aang scratching a pentapus on his hand. "Thank you, sewer friend," he said.

(Location: FNS Royal Flame)

The crew and Imperial Firebenders had disembarked and had also set up camp for the night. A few of the Imperial Firebenders were on the deck, bowing on front of palanquin that held the Fire Nation Princess. On each side of the palanquin stood the twins, Lo and Li.

"When tracking your brother and uncle, traveling with the Royal Procession may no longer be an option," Lo told the princess. "May no longer be wise," Li continued. "If you wish to keep the element of surprise." finished the two in perfect synchronization.

"You're right. The Royal Procession is dead weight. If I want to catch my prey, I must agile, nimble," Azula nodded in agreement. She turned towards Naruto, standing beside her. "I need a small, elite team. It's time to visit some old friends. What do you think, Naruto?"

"It sounds like an idea, plus it'll help you with your answer," Naruto said from where he sat on the roof of the palanquin. If she had people she considered friends around, she would probably be able to find her answer quicker.

She silently nodded. "Then we leave tomorrow, at sunrise"

Naruto leapt off the roof and onto the deck. "I'll go notify the captain. We'll send the ship home in the morning. We'll only take a squad with us when we leave." He started to leave but stopped. "I just have one thing to ask you two," he told the twins.

"Yes," Li asked and Lo continued. "What is it?"

"Do you have to take turns speaking the same sentence?" He held up a hand, stopping them from speaking. "You know what? Forget it. Odds are you'll just give me an answer the same way." He left the ship to go talk to the captain.

"The nerve of that boy," said Lo but Li continued. "For him to insult us like that."

Neither of them noticed the small grin that Azula had on her face.

(Location: Omashu)

The group moved up to the next level of the city and quickly hid behind a lumber pile to avoid a patrol. "Let's find Bumi and get out of here," Katara said.

"Where would they be keeping him?" Sokka asked Aang.

Aang gave it some quick thought. "Somewhere he can't Earthbend. Somewhere made of metal," he finally said. After looking out at the city to figure out where what place would be able to have those conditions to hold Bumi, they quickly moved on.

Meanwhile, on the next level down, there was a guard procession that was guarding a family: a mother with her toddler son as well as her teenage daughter. "There really is no fathoming the depths of my hatred of this place," the teenager said in a bored tone, scowling slightly.

"Mai, your father was appointed governor. We're like royalty here," her mother told her. "Be happy and enjoy it."

"I thought my life was boring in the Fire Nation but this place is unbearably bleak," Mai replied. "Nothing ever happens."

As Aang and the others tried to make their way across the level, they saw two big boulders coming down one of the ramps fast. Turning to see what on the lower level, he saw the family and the guard procession. Thinking that they would be crushed by the boulders, he used his staff to Airbend the boulders out of the way. However it caused a great deal of noise and dust, alerting the guard procession.

"The resistance!" Mai's mother cried out, pointing to Aang. Mai moved quickly. She flung out her arms, releasing a good number of small arrows at Aang, who dodged by jumping onto the lumber pile behind him. Touching the pile only once, he then leapt to the side and began to run away along with Katara and Sokka while Momo flew away.

As the two guards climbed up the latter and onto the next level, they began to chase after the group. Katara quickly used her water whip to swat them back down to the lower level. As they fell, Mai climbed up the ladder and attacked Katara. She fired more projectiles at the Waterbender, but they were blocked when she bent water into a shield of ice and then ran away with Mai in pursuit.

As she chased them across the level, Aang decided to stall to her. Using his staff, he bent the air to cause a nearby scaffolding to collapse in front of Mai. Stopping quickly to avoid being crushed, she threw a doubled bladed knife that ricocheted off the wall and towards Aang. Sensing danger, he turned and rapidly spun his staff, causing the knife to hit the staff. Mai quickly launched another round of projectiles. But before they could even reach their target, the platform where the group stood suddenly dropped down, taking them with it. As it fell, another platform took its place, like they were never even there. Mai just gave a bored sigh and headed back to her family.

Meanwhile the group had landed in a tunnel. As they looked to see where they were, they noticed that they were surrounded by Earth Kingdom soldiers. After staying silent for about minute, Sokka looked at both Aang and Katara. "And the two of you thought there wasn't going to be a resistance," he told them.

Aang looked sheepish while Katara threw him a dirty look.

(Location: Fire Nation circus)

"So, Ty Lee is in there somewhere." Azula said as she looked at the circus being set up, as Naruto joined her a moment later.

The circus grounds looked busy as the performers and staff were setting up the performance tents, while the animal handlers gave instructions to their employees on where they need to bring the cages. Naruto noticed a group of cooks giving the rest of the performers and animal trainers their meal, while Azula continued to look for the tent where their first recruit would stay.

"Yes, although they're going to be moving soon," Naruto noted. No one paid attention to the two of them, they were all too busy going about their business, but he can hear the loud commotion coming from the animal trainer who spotted the animal handler placing the cage in the wrong location.

"Alright then, I'll go in and look around for her." She began to walk off, only to be stop by Naruto calling her name. "What is it?"

"I want you to try two things when you're talking to Ty Lee. The first is don't strong-arm her into joining us," he told her. This was something he was confident that if she did what he told her, getting Ty Lee to come with them will be much easier.

"What's the second thing?"

He smiled. "Try asking her to help you."

"Why would I try and do that?" she huffed. If she wanted Ty Lee to come with them, she would come with them.

"I'm not ordering you to ask her. I just want to you to try, that's all."

"Fine." She walked into the circus ground with Naruto just behind her. When they finally spotted Ty Lee, he hung back to see how Azula would do. "Ty Lee, could that possibly be you?" she called out to her friend.

"Azula!" chirped the girl who was currently doing a handstand on a finger per hand. After getting her feet on the ground and bowing, she leapt and ran over, giving the Fire Nation Princess a hug. "It's so good to see you!" she said with excitement.

"Please don't let me interrupt your… whatever it is you're doing," Azula told her. She immediately flipped backwards into a position where she was sitting on her elbows with her feet in the air in front of her. "Tell me, what is the daughter of a nobleman doing here? Certainly our parents did not send us to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls to end up in… places like this," she asked Ty Lee as she watched a couple of the circus workers struggle with a platypus-bear only for said platypus-bear to lay an egg.

"Oh, great. Another egg," muttered the animal handler in charge of the platypus-bear as he looked at the new egg.

Had that been any other time, she probably would've found that amusing. "I have a proposition for you, Ty lee. I'm hunting a traitor. You remember my old fuddy-duddy uncle, don't you?"

"Oh yeah, he was so funny." Ty Lee answered with a giggle. When she thought of Iroh, she was always tempted to laugh.

"I would be honored if you join me on my mission."

She flinched a little when she heard those words. "Oh… I, uh… would love to." She flipped herself back onto her feet. "But the truth is I'm really happy here. I mean my aura has never been pinker!"

"Ty Lee, please," Azula said, almost pleadingly.

She grew curious. "What's the matter, Azula?" It wasn't like her to speak like that to anyone. She always seemed to look confident in what she did.

She looked down at the ground, suddenly embarrassed by what was going through her head. "There's a question that I'm dealing with and I don't know the answer to it. I think that if I have you and Mai by my side, I can figure it out."

Ty Lee walked to the princess, taking her hand and gently holding it. "Are you still having the nightmares?" she asked quietly.

Azula brought her face back up and Ty Lee didn't see the confident princess of the Fire Nation. She saw the terrified little girl who would run to her room every time she slept over after having the nightmare, so she wouldn't be alone. "Yes," she whispered.

Ty Lee gave her a quick hug. "Okay then, I'll join you but after the show tonight."

"Thank you." She was relieved by that answer. That was one down, one more to go.

"By the way, where's that cutie you have been hanging out with?" Ty Lee asked as she looked around. She didn't see who she was looking for.

"Cutie?" asked Azula, confused by her words.

"Oh, you know. Your bodyguard," she clarified with a knowing grin. The one who you have a small cru–"

Ty Lee's mouth was quickly covered by Azula's hand. "You promised not to talk about that!" She gritted her teeth in frustration. That was a little too close "You can come out now, Naruto," she called out.

He walked out into plain sight. "Hey, cutie!" greeted Ty Lee.

"Are you becoming one of my Fangirls, Ty Lee?" he asked her amusingly. "A lot of them call me cutie for some weird reason."

She winced. "Ew, no. Please remember that I was there last year when the Great Chase occurred." The three of them shuddered at the memory.

Last year, Naruto had taken time in the morning to train with the domestic army making sure that they can hold their own against an attack while they were at a disadvantage. One day, a Fangirl had been watching him in secret as he trained with the soldiers. Apparently, the combination of him having taken his shirt off as he trained and the fact that he was sweating, had triggered something within his secret admirer. Five minutes later, Naruto was running for his life as the one Fangirl gradually became a horde of them. The Great Chase lasted most of the day and destroyed quite a bit of the industry area and docks, including the buildings where Naruto tried to hide, but without any success, as the Fangirls would destroy his hiding spots, forcing him to move constantly throughout the town.

When Iroh had heard about the level of destruction, he said that if he had that kind of destructive power when he was invading Ba Sing Se, he would have conquered the city in a day. Somehow, what he said managed to find its way to his brother and for quite some time afterwards, both Ozai and his generals were taking the comment seriously.

"What I don't understand is why they come after me, I'm no one special and I'm certainly not that handsome." Naruto wondered aloud, making both Azula and Ty Lee stare at him in silent disbelief.

"He still doesn't get it?" they silently asked themselves.

"Sometimes this gaki's innocence astounds me,"the Kyūbi thought silently. It was quite funny to watch most of the time. But it was still astounding all the same.

"Anyway, are you coming with us, Ty Lee?" Naruto asked the acrobat.

She nodded. "Yep, but only after the show tonight."

"Alright then, we'll be waiting," Azula told her. As she and Naruto walked away, she stopped. "You know what? I think I'll catch your show tonight," she said, looking back.

Ty Lee flinched and lost grip of the leg she was holding. She quickly grabbed her leg again and said "Um…Yeah, sure… of course." While she tried to remain cheerful, she was inwardly preying that all would go well that night.

Naruto noticed the way she said it and nudged Azula, who got the silent point. "I promise not to do anything stupid or dangerous during the show," she told Ty Lee. She might've once, but not anymore.

"Okay." Ty Lee replied, still a little nervous.

(Location: Omashu)

The group stood in front of the leader of the resistance with Team Kurenai besides them. As it turned out, they had found the resistance almost right after they got into the city. After telling the resistance who they were and what their mission was, they kept an eye out for Aang, Sokka and Katara, letting the resistance know to bring them in.

"So is King Bumi with you guys? Is he leading the resistance?" Aang asked with hope in his voice.

"Of course not!" barked the leader of the resistance, angry at the Avatar's words. "The day of the invasion, we were prepared to defend our city, to fight for our lives and for our freedom. But before we even had a chance, King Bumi…surrendered."

The group stood silent until Sokka said "What actually happened that day?" It was always a good idea to know the details of something. It helped form a more coherent picture.

The leader began to explain. "It was a week after your group had left Omashu. We had gotten word that a large force of Fire Nation troops were coming towards the city. As we prepared for battle, King Bumi and I took a walk through the courtyard when…" hH took a breath to steady himself. "When he appeared," His voice growled those last three words.

(Flashback)

"My King, we're ready to defend ourselves," one of the soldiers said as Bumi inspected the troops in the courtyard. Bumi simply nodded at the soldier and continued the inspection.

As the inspection ended, they heard someone from atop the wall yell out "Somebody, stop him!"

Looking up at the soldier who spoke, they only saw a brief shadow against the sun before someone landed in the courtyard and in front of Bumi. The person stood up from his crouched position. "King Bumi, I presume?' he asked.

"Yes," Bumi replied, keeping his expression neutral.

"I am the Paragon of the Fire Nation, and I would like to request something of you."

He became curious of those words. "Oh? And what's that?"

"Your surrender." The minute those words left his mouth, he was surrounded by both weapons and big rocks held by Earthbenders. "What say you?" he continued, looking like he didn't care about being in danger.

The soldiers surrounding him looked like they were about to attack him. "Why should I surrender?' Bumi asked, stopping the soldiers from attacking.

"Let's cut to the chase, King Bumi. You know who I am and what I can do. I'm giving you the chance to spare your men's lives and to avoid bloodshed," he explained patiently.

When he heard that, the king of Omashu started to cackle madly. "Well, when you put it like that, youngster, I really can't say anything in return. Fine I surrender."

"Thank you," the Paragon said, sounding very relieved. "Now all I have to do is to tell the leading general that."

"Stand down, everyone," Bumi told his troops. They did so, albeit with great reluctance. "Why do you need to tell your general that I surrendered?"

"Because I already told him that you did, so he's not bringing an army to Omashu but he's still skeptical." Bumi cackled madly at that.

(End Flashback)

"What happened after that?" Katara asked.

"The invasion force turned out to be just construction workers and colonists. They wasted no time in settling in and taking over our city." The leader shook his head. "It doesn't matter now. Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom. And freedom is worth dying for."

"Actually, there's another path to freedom," Aang announced. "You could leave Omashu. You're directing all your energy to fight the Fire Nation, but you're outnumbered. You can't win. Now's the time to retreat and live to fight another day." He didn't know why they didn't do that in the first place.

"You don't understand! They've taken our home and we have to fight them at any cost!" the leader told them. When he said that, Kurenai's team had a look of slight disgust on their faces.

"I don't know, Yung. Living to fight another day is starting to sound pretty good to me," the soldier next to him said.

"Yeah, I'm with the kid," another soldier chimed in.

The leader looked at the people in the camp. They were all talking about leaving and what a good idea it sounded. "Fine, but there's thousands of citizens who need to leave," he conceded. "How are we going to get them all out?" He didn't see a way out without heavy fighting.

"Suckers!" Sokka suddenly exclaimed. Everyone looked at him with a question in their heads, trying to figure out what he had just said.

"Um Sokka…could you try that again?" Hinata asked.

He had a big grin. "You're all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox," he told them.

---

After explaining his plan to the group, while avoiding Katara's sarcastic remarks and dirty looks, Sokka ordered everyone in the resistance to gather up enough purple pentapus. Once they gathered a good amount, they started applying them onto their skin and pulling them off, leaving the red marks. Team Kurenai had gone on ahead to make sure the citizens could arrive in the designated area safely.

Soon enough, everyone was out in the open sunlight and looked like they had been hit with a bad case of the pentapox. Sokka looked at his handiwork. "The marks make you look sick, but you need to act sick too," He told them. "You've gotta sell it!" Conveniently enough, an old man with a cane and peg leg walked through the crowd while groaning. "Now that's what I'm talking about," the Tribesman stated, pointing at the old man.

"Years of practice," the old man said, tapping his peg leg with his cane.

"Okay everyone, into sick formation!" Sokka ordered.

As they walked away, Aang began to go somewhere else. "Aang, what are you doing? Aren't you coming with us?" Katara asked.

"No. I'm not leaving until I find Bumi," he told her. He grabbed Momo, who had leapt onto his shoulder, and put him back the ground. "Sorry, Momo, I'll feed you later," he said to the lemur. And with that, he leapt away to look for his friend.

As Katara joined the citizens, Sokka joined her. "He went off to look for Bumi, didn't he?" he asked.

"What's it to you?" she shot back. He just shook his head and rolled his eyes before moving forward.

---

The Earth Kingdom citizens slowly approached the front gates, freaking out the guards in the process. Some were really getting into the act by foaming at the mouth or collapsing onto the ground.

Finally, one of the guards yelled out, "Plague. PLAGUE!" before falling back while another guard bang out an alarm.

Meanwhile at the governor's mansion, on one of the balconies, the governor as well as his wife, son and Mai stood there watching the confusion. "What is going on down there?" the governor asked.

"I saw some kids yesterday who were sick with pentapox" a nearby guard explained. "It must have spread!"

"Pentapox…I'm pretty sure I've heard of that," he mused .

"Oh, this is terrible!" his wife exclaimed in horror.

"What should we do?" the guard asked.

"Drive them out of the city, but don't touch them! We have to rid this city of this disease!" the governor ordered. The guard bowed and left to do his job.

"Fire flakes, dad?" Mai asked, holding the bowl out. The governor simply gave her a look out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh, how awful!" said Mai's mother as she hugged her husband. Nobody noticed that the toddler had toddled away from them.

---

Meanwhile, in a different part of the city, Aang was having no luck in trying to find Bumi. He did have a stroke of luck when he found Flopsie, Bumi's pet gorilla goat. Being the kindhearted and caring boy that he is, he immediately freed Flopsie and used him to look again for Bumi.

(Location: Fire Nation circus)

The night show had just begun for the circus. It was a special show because Azula had decided to attend. She sat in the main seat, with Naruto sitting just off to the side. "We are deeply honored to have the Fire Lord's daughter at our humble circus," announced the circus master loudly. "Please tell us if there is anything that we can do to make sure that the show is more enjoyable."

Azula began to say something but caught the warning in Naruto's eyes. "That won't be necessary," she finally said. The performers went through their routines as both Naruto and Azula watched. Soon enough, it was Ty Lee's turn to perform. "Incredible, do you think she'll fall?" she asked the circus master as her friend did her act on the high rope.

"Of course not," he answered, confident in Ty Lee. She had never fallen before, why would she start now?

"Don't even think about it, Azula," Naruto whispered.

"I wasn't going to!" she whispered back. She had made a promise and she was going to stick with it.

That is when things went a little haywire. Suddenly, every animal that the circus had somehow gotten loose and stampeded their way into the main tent. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we present to you: Pandemonium!" the Kyūbi said grandly as he and his Jinchūriki watched the animals of the circus rampage around on the floor.

"Oh, shut up, now's not the time for that," Naruto silently told the fox as he stood up .

"Killjoy," the fox muttered.

"What's going on?!" demanded the circus master.

"I don't know sir. Somehow the beasts got out of their cages," one of the circus workers told him.

"I can see that! We have to get this under control now!" Everyone hurried to contain the situation, but the stampeding animals could not be controlled. While Ty Lee was still up in the air in the middle of her act, the animals raged below. But then a sharp whistle blew, and they stopped.

Everyone looked at the animals in confusion except for one person, and that person was who the animals were looking at with fear in their eyes. Everyone else began to feel some sort of pressure weighing down on them, like it was almost suffocating them.

"That is enough," Naruto told them, his voice becoming rougher and turning into a growl as he came onto the floor.

As Azula watched her bodyguard approached the ring, for a moment she would have sworn she had seen a head of a large fox snarling behind him. As Naruto got closer to the animals, they began to shake in fear. As he stood there watching the animals, no one knew what he was going to do. He then simply raised an arm and pointed his finger at the entrance from where they came from.

"Move it," he ordered them. They quickly complied.

After the animals had left in what could almost be called an organized stampede, the pressure had disappeared.

"What did you do?" the circus master asked him with awe in his eyes but with fear in his voice.

Naruto turned around to face him. "I simply showed them who the alpha here was," he explained simply. He looked at Ty Lee and said, "You can come down now!"

(Location: Resistance camp)

Aang and Flopsie walked into the camp and saw Katara and Sokka come up to them along with Kurenai. Inside the camp, many soldiers sharpened their weapons and gathered enough arrows while sitting down in front of a small fire. In another section of the camp, the other resistance fighters who were not officially part of the Earth Kingdom's main army were being instructed on how to fight in an organized manner by a few Earth Kingdom officers. Some of the recruits who were benders were instructed to review their stances, while the Nonbenders were instructed on the proper usages of their chosen weapons.

"We looked everywhere, no Bumi," Aang told them. Seeing that he was sad, Katara gave him a hug.

Sokka hesitated to tell Aang the truth, but he still did. "Well, what did you expect? Did you honestly think you would be able to find Bumi? He's the king of Omashu and a powerful Earthbender as well. They're not going to keep him imprisoned out in the open!"

"Knock it off, Sokka!" Katara snapped at him, a scowl set firmly on her face.

"I'm just stating the facts and the both of you know it," he replied, his scowl matching hers.

"Your brother is right," Kurenai told Katara before turning to face Aang. "What you did was reckless and stupid. You could have been captured as you looked for your friend. How would that help him?"

"You were okay with it the first time!" Katara protested.

"Only because he wouldn't be going in alone, he had you two to help him," she replied, keeping her voice calm.

Before Katara could protest again, Aang admitted the truth. "Kurenai's right, Katara. I placed myself in danger when I looked for Bumi alone. It was a bad mistake." His downcast tone made Katara hug him again. Hearing a whine coming from Flopsie, Sokka turned around and gave the sad gorilla-goat a hug as well.

"We got a problem," the resistance leader said as he walked up to them. "We just did a head count."

"Oh no, did someone get left behind?" Katara asked with worry.

"No, we have an extra." The leader pointed to Momo, who was desperately trying to get away from the toddler in Fire Nation clothes currently hanging on his neck.

(Location: Omashu)

On the balcony of the governor's mansion, the governor's wife was sobbing her heart out in a chair with Mai standing next to her. As she watched her mother cry, Mai pulled out a hanky to give her so she could wipe her tears and blow her nose. "So…the resistance has kidnapped my son," the governor stated as he looked out at the city. "Everything's so clever, so tricky, just like their King Bumi."

"What do you want to do, sir?" one of the guards asked. The governor just looked at him once and then looked back towards the mountains. He was probably going to regret it, but he knew of a way to get his son back.

(Location: Fire Nation circus)

Azula stood in Ty Lee's changing room while she sat in front of her mirror. Every audience member who saw the animal stampede had quietly left the performance tent after the organizer of the show had announced that he would cancel the rest of the performance tonight, so his animal handlers can calm the animal performers down.

"That was an interesting show," Ty Lee commented as she took off her headpiece.

"I had nothing to do with that stampede. It could've happened at any time during the show," Azula told her. She had kept her promise.

"If you say so." She was skeptic. She knew Azula quite well and that was something she would do.

"Ty Lee, I swear on my most prized possession that the stampede was not my fault."

The acrobat turned to face her. "You swear, huh?" Azula nodded. "Alright then, I'll take your word." She was willing to take that risk. They were friends, after all. "Hey, Azula?" asked the acrobat, her voice somewhat cautious.

"Yes?" The Fire Nation princess asked her.

"You know how I always think that Naruto has two auras?"

"Yeah, you told him that back when we first met him. He told you that he had no idea what you were talking about," They didn't really know him back then. But now, she was sure he had been lying.

"Well, when he told all the animals to leave, that second aura got bigger and, I swear to Agni, I saw a giant fox head right behind him."

"Wait, you saw the fox too?" She had thought that she was the only one who saw it.

Ty Lee nodded. "Do you know what it means?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't."

"Do you think we should ask Naruto about it?"

"Only if we have to," Azula replied. She decided to change the subject. "Are you ready to leave?"

"Just give me a few minutes, where are we going?"

"Omashu."

(Location: Resistance camp)

Aang, Katara, Sokka, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Kurenai and the resistance leader all sat around a fire and watched the toddler as he went after Momo. He felled on his bottom as the flying lemur got away, but soon fell in front of Sokka's club. Before the toddler could touch it, Sokka grabbed and put it out of harm's way. Seeing his toy being taken away, the toddler began to cry.

Katara looked at her brother with a frown and proceeded to hit him upside the head. "I'm not giving back the club Katara. It's a weapon, not a toy," he told her, earning him a glare.

As he spoke, Akela padded over to the toddler and proceeded to lick his face and nuzzle him, making the child giggle. "Oohhhh, you're so cute," Katara said as she hugged the toddler and gave it a kiss on the cheek.

"Sure, he's cute now,but when he's older, he'll join the Fire Nation army," the resistance leader said. "You won't think he's so cute then, he'll be a killer." He had seen enough Fire Nation soldiers to know that was going to happen.

"Not if you and your generation decide to set a better example. The next generation learns from the old one, so it's up to us to teach them," Kurenai told him with firm conviction, her students nodding in agreement. Meanwhile the toddler had wandered over to Hinata, crawled into her lap, and fell asleep. Hinata simply lifted the child up into her arms and began to rock him back and forth, humming a lullaby.

"You're going to be one heck of a mom, Hinata," Kiba told her after she had finished.

"Thanks, Kiba," she replied, blushing a little bit.

"I have a question," Shino announced out of the blue, getting everyone's attention.

"What is it, Shino?" Kurenai asked. He didn't usually say things like that.

"Why is it that all the animals, besides the lemur, have started laughing?" He pointed to Appa, Akamaru, Akela, and Flopsie, who did honestly look like they were laughing.

"That reminds me, how did Akela and Akamaru get along so well? The last time I check, they were almost at each other's throats," Sokka asked Kiba.

"Don't know. When we arrived to make sure the civilians got here safely, we found all three of them asleep. The weird thing was that Akamaru was sleeping in top of Appa's head and Akela was sleeping on top of Akamaru. When we tried to wake them, they all growled at us in unison," the Inuzuka told him, shrugging in bafflement.

"Another friendship made in Sacred Snoring," the Tribesman muttered before turning to Appa. "Do you have some sort of weird power that makes everyone friends after they sleep on top of you?" He asked the sky bison. Appa just rolled over onto his back and continued to laugh in his own, sky-bison way.

"What's so funny, Akamaru?" Kiba asked his dog. Akamaru told him and when he was done, Kiba had busted out laughing as well.

"Okay, what exactly did he say, Kiba?" Kurenai asked her student.

"He's…He's…Oh Kami this is just too funny!" he tried to say before he began laughing again.

"What is it?"

He had finally managed to catch his breath. "Akamaru told me how the kid managed to get here."

He started to tell the rest of them what had happened to Momo while they were pretending to have pentapox. After he was done telling the story, everybody had managed to start laughing. As they laughed, Momo had somehow managed to look embarrassed. After everyone was done laughing, they heard the cry of a bird. Looking around, they saw one flying towards them.

"A messenger hawk is coming!" said the resistance leader as it landed.

Kurenai rose from where she sat, walked over to the hawk, opened the compartment, and took out the letter. After reading it over, she gave it to Aang. "You should read this out loud to everyone," she told him.

"It's from the Fire Nation governor. He thinks we kidnapped his son," Aang told them as he read the letter. "So, he wants to make a trade. His son…for King Bumi." At the last bit, his eyes went wide.

"Okay then, it's a trap," Sokka said.

"Just what I'd expected from you," said Katara as she looked at her brother.

"Nevertheless, Sokka is right. This sounds like a trap," Kurenai agreed.

"We need to think of something. Do you guys have any ideas?" he asked Team Kurenai.

"Just like my brother, always coming up with plans," Katara said aloud. "And look where they've got us."

Sokka decided enough was enough. "Katara, we need to talk. Alone." He rose and started to walk away from the group, his sister followed after him.

"What is that you wanted to talk about?" Katara asked him once they were a good distance from the camp, far enough away so no could see or hear them.

Sokka looked at her and asked: "What's your problem, Katara?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, trying to sound innocent. But she was too annoyed and angry with him to make it properly work.

Sokka was not convinced of Katara's feigned innocence. "You have something against me, what is it?"

"I have don't have against you Sokka, you're my brother after all," she growled sarcasticlly as her temper was beginning to shorten.

"Stop it, Katara!" he shouted at her. "You've been deliberately nasty, snide, snotty and any other kind of word that describes your attitude ever since Master Pakku started training me. So, I will ask again: What. Is. Your. Problem?"

And with that, her temper was lost. "You know what, Sokka? You're right. I do have a problem with you. You decided to barge in on something that you shouldn't have been anywhere in the first!"

Sokka simply raised an eyebrow. "Is this about me asking Master Pakku to train me?"

"He is not your master; you don't have the right to call him that! What you did was sacrilege! You had no business trying to learn Waterbending when you're not a Bender yourself! I'm the Bender in the family, not you!" Katara screamed.

The silence between the two grew moment by moment until Sokka quietly asked one thing. "Are you truly that childish?"

The fury went out of Katara and was replaced by confusion. "What?"

"Do you really think that I went to Master Pakku to learn Waterbending so I could make sure that you didn't have something that was your own? I went to Master Pakku so I can learn how to protect myself."

"Protect yourself, why would you need to do that? You have your weapons and intelligence," she protested. She had never seen him without any of those, at least, not voluntarily.

"What do you think will happen in the middle of a battle if I lose weapons? I'm not a Bender and the last time I checked; intelligence was not a weapon that can actually be used on a battlefield! I asked Master Pakku to teach me so I wouldn't end up dead!" The volume of his voice rose as he kept talking.

Katara took a step back as she listened to her brother, like she was about to hide from his voice. "D-dead?" she asked, not really understanding what he was saying.

"Yes, dead. Maybe that's what you would like to see, huh, Katara? Do you want to see me on the battlefield, wounded as blood seeps from my body? Do you want to watch me as I slowly lose my life?! WELL, DO YOU?!" he roared.

She began to cry at that, images filling her head. Images she didn't want to see. "No, I don't want that, please not that! We already lost Mom and we don't know if Dad is still alive. I don't want to lose you too."

As her sobs began to lessen, Sokka let his anger dissipate and gave her a hug. "Like you said, Katara, I'm not the Bender in the family. You are, and that's the difference between us. Although I did learn the stances and sets for Waterbending, I'm not a Bender." He took a step back so he could look at her face. "Are we good?"

Katara nodded as her tears stopped. "We're good."

"Then we better get back to the others, we still need to come with a plan." The two of them walked back to where the resistance camp was. The tension between the two of them was all but gone.

---

Aang took a moment to watch the sun rise before walking down to where Sokka, Katara, and Team Kurenai stood in front of Appa. Sokka kept a close eye on the view, waiting to see if the hostage will arrive along with his captors. "Please remember that we are possibly going into a trap," Sokka told him as he scratched Akela's ear.

"I know," Aang replied.

"Are we ready?" Kurenai asked, holding the sleeping toddler.

"Probably ready as we'll ever be, Kurenai-sensei," Shino answered her.

"Don't worry guys, this'll be easy," Kiba stated.

Sokka turned to his sister. "I liked to state for the record that those words did not come out of my mouth."

"Duly noted," Katara answered, making them laugh a little and lose the tension that was in the air amongst them.

(Location: Omashu)

Mai stood in front the entrance to the governor's mansion. She watched a group of Imperial Firebenders carried the royal palanquin towards her. She didn't need to ask who was inside, she already knew who. As the palanquin was set down and Azula stepped out, she bowed. "Please tell me you're here to kill me," she said with no emotion whatsoever.

The two of them looked at each other for a moment and then laughed. "It's great to see you Mai," Azula told her as she gave her a hug. The two of them broke apart and Ty Lee gave Mai another hug, albeit a clingier one.

"I thought you ran off and join the circus. You said it was your calling," Mai asked the acrobat.

"Well, Azula called a little louder," Ty Lee replied as she stepped back.

"Actually, Ty Lee, I think that call got lost in the noise made by the animals when they were going on a rampage," Naruto said as he joined the girls.

"Naruto," Mai greeted him with a small glare.

"Doom and Gloom," Naruto replied with a smile. "So how do you want to die this time: suffocation, drowning, beheading, impalement, electrocution, strangulation?" he asked her, listing the ways on his fingers.

"How does a knife through the heart sound to you?" she asked before flinging out her hand and throwing a knife at him. It whizzed through the air and looked like it was going to imbed itself in his eye

"Sounds a bit dull if you ask me. If I wanted a dull and boring death, I would have settled for having my skin flayed off, or suffer from multiple small cuts," he answered as he caught the knife without taking his eyes off her.

Mai scowled slightly before finally grinning and replying in an amused tone, "It's always fun to have you around, Naruto."

"If the two of you are done, I can tell Mai why we're here," Azula told them as she stepped forward, and looked at both Mai and Ty Lee. "I have a mission and need you both."

"Count me in." Mai automatically agreed. "I'll take anything that'll get me out of this place."

"After we're done in Omashu, I'll tell the squad leader to head back to the Fire Nation," Naruto told Azula, who nodded in agreement.

"I guess I have to go talk to your father now?" she asked Mai. She nodded. "Lead the way."

---

The governor, his wife, Mai, and Ty Lee sat in front of Azula as she sat in the governor's chair. Naruto was leaning against the wall next to the door, keeping guard to make sure no intruder would enter the governor's residence without any reason at all. "I apologize," the governor told Azula. "You've come to Omashu at a difficult time. At noon, we're making a trade with the resistance to get Tom-Tom back."

"Yes, I'm so sorry to hear about your son," Azula said sarcastically, as her facial expressions turned serious. "Really, what did you expect by just letting all the citizens leave. My father has trusted you with this city, and you've made a mess of things."

"Forgive me, princess," the governor pleaded as he bowed his head. His wife followed his example.

"You stay here," she told him. "Mai will handle the hostage trade so you don't have a chance to mess it up. And there is no more "Omashu". I'm renaming it in honor of my father―"

"No, you're not." Naruto interrupted her harshly. Most of the people in the room looked at him with shocked silence. They didn't know of anyone who would so openly disagree with the princess, but the silence grew dangerous as she eyed her bodyguard.

"What did you say?" she growled.

He looked at the two Imperial Firebenders who stood on each side of the chair. They took the subtle order and left quietly. "Would you give us a few minutes?" he asked the governor and his wife. They nodded and left the room as well.

"What in Agni's name do you mean I'm not renaming this city?" Azula demanded as she took a few steps towards Naruto.

"You're not renaming this city for two reasons," he told her as he came off the wall and walked forward a few steps. "One: Names are important."

"What are you talking about?"

"This is the city of Omashu; its citizens are a part of the Earth Kingdom." He gestured widely to emphasize his point. "They take pride in the fact they came from Omashu, you take away the name and they can't take pride in where they are born or who they are."

She scoffed. "That's nonsense." To her, one name was good as another.

"If you say so, Miss. Chunky-Chunky Boom-Boom,"

She just stood there as she digested what just came out of her bodyguard's mouth. "Excuse me?" she asked him in a soft quiet voice. People who knew Azula would start looking for places that provided good cover at that voice and pray to Agni she wasn't coming their way.

"What?" he asked, acting like he hadn't really said anything.

"What did you just call me?"

"Oh, that. I called you by your new name, Chunky-Chunky Boom-Boom, a present girl of the Earth Kingdom," he answered, acting like it was nothing.

"Like hell it is!" She bent a fireball past his head, hitting the wall harmlessly. "My name is Azula, and I am the Princess of the Fire Nation!"

He looked at her as he slowly walked up towards her, finally stopping just in front of her. "So changing the name of something or someone else is fine but changing your name or where you're from is not allowed?" he asked quietly.

"You're damn right it is!" she snarled, shoving her face into his. They looked at each other with their faces only inches away. Her eyes were angry while his were calm.

"What you just felt is what everyone feels when a name is taken from them. Surely you can empathize with them when they feel what you have felt just now," Naruto told her softly. "Do you really want to do that to these people?"

Azula glared at him for a few minutes, before realizing what he said. She could see what he was talking about and was about to cast away a name the people of the city held dear to their hearts and thought nothing of it. Yet, she was almost about to attack him when he did the same to her. "I guess not," she conceded, stepping away from him.

"It's a valuable lesson, Azula. You would've learned it sooner or later." He turned to the door. "I'll go tell the governor that we're going to make the trade."

"Very well," she agreed. He started walking away. "And Naruto, that name is never to be mentioned again."

He turned to face her. "Don't give me a reason to use it," he told her with a mischievous grin before turning back.

"Um…Naruto?" called Ty Lee. "You said you had two reasons, but you only explained one. What was the second?"

Naruto stopped and turned, looking sheepish. "Yeah, sorry, forgot about that," he said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, what is the second reason?" Mai asked. Now she was curious about it

"The Royal Flaming Asshole doesn't deserve be named after a diaper, much less a city."

"You know, some might call that treason." Azula noted dryly. While she wasn't sure of the number, she knew that there were only a brave few people who speak ill of her father candidly and get away with. Her uncle was obviously one of them, as he is considered family. Naruto on the other hand, is another issue entirely.

Naruto scoffed and told the three girls. "The day he gets off his ass and actually fights in this war, I might start respecting him, and I stress the word 'might.'" He left the room at that.

---

They waited at the base of a gigantic state of the Fire Lord. Aang with his hat on with Katara and Sokka behind him with Akela at Sokka's feet. Kurenai stood to his side, still holding the sleeping toddler while her team behind her. Soon enough, they saw the other party coming up the stairs. Team Kurenai silently analyzed the group coming towards them. They figured that while the three girls could be considered a threat, they could also be dealt with. It was the cloaked, hooded one that they couldn't figure out. To any shinobi worth their kunai, that little fact would put them on guard immediately.

"Strange but that cloaked person smells familiar," Kiba thought as he stared. "I can't place him though."

"Aang," Hinata whispered as her team can observed by how their would-be opponents walked. "Be careful of them. These are not civilians, they're fighters."

"Understood," Aang whispered back, before turning to Kurenai. "If this turns into a fight, how do you to do want to this?"

She looked at him briefly before turning her attention to her team. "Shino, keep them close by using your bugs while Kiba and Akamaru keep them occupied. Hinata, get in close and disable them using your Jūken. Katara, support Hinata with your Waterbending," she ordered. "That should take care of the three girls."

"What about the fourth person?" the Airbender asked, looking at the hooded person accompanying the girls.

"I'll take care of him," Sokka told everyone while Akela growled in agreement.

"Just be careful. That guy somehow smells familiar," Kiba told them.

"Can you tell who it is?" Shino asked. If he smelt familiar to Kiba, odds are that they knew him and therefore, knew how to fight him.

But the Inuzuka shook his head. "No, he just smells familiar, but I don't why."

"Alright then, be on guard with the cloaked one," Kurenai ordered.

By the time their conversation was over, Mai's group was coming towards them, Mai's hand gave a little flick and up above, the iron coffin that held King Bumi began to lower. "Hi, everybody!" called out the king of Omashu.

"That…is a strange man," Kiba commented, Akamaru nodding in agreement. The man was locked up in a coffin that left only his head out for everyone to see and yet, he was acting like this was nothing.

"You brought my brother?" Mai asked as Bumi landed behind her and the others. She kept her voice calm and neutral, trying to betray anything.

Kurenai showed the sleeping toddler, safe in her arms. "He's here."

"We're ready to trade," Aang told them.

"I'm sorry, but a thought just occurred to me." Azula interrupted. She turned to Mai and asked, "Do you mind?"

"Of course not, Princess Azula," she told the princess.

"Oh boy, here we go." the Kyūbi said in a suffering tone.

"Knock it off, fox. We need to focus here," Naruto told him. "Do you feel that?"

The Kyūbi was silent for a few seconds as he felt what his Jinchūriki had felt. "Yeah, I do. You catch on quickly, gaki," he said in praise.

"Three years under your tutelage and fighting in a war makes learning quickly a necessity," the blonde told the fox before refocusing on the trade.

"We're trading a two-year-old boy for a king, but not just any kind of king. A powerful Earthbending king, to boot. It just doesn't seem like a fair trade, does it?" Azula asked, Bumi nodding in agreement .

Mai looked at her brother as she thought it over. "You're right." She answered, stepping forward. "The deal's off!" If she didn't get out of the city fast enough, she was going to hear about this from her parents.

"Well of course the deal is off, Mai," the cloaked person announced as he walked past Mai, but he stopped about halfway towards the other group. "The deal was off before the negotiations started."

"That voice sounds familiar," Team Kurenai thought. "But where have I heard it before?"

"What do you mean?" Mai asked him.

"It's simple, really," he replied, keeping his gaze focused on the Avatar's group. "We brought our piece to the table, they did not."

"What are talking about, he's right in here in my arms," Kurenai argued. She lifted the toddler up slightly so they could see him better.

"Is he now?" the cloaked person asked, his voice slightly mocking. He snapped his fingers. As the sound of the snap echoed all around them, the toddler being held by Kurenai simply disappeared. "Or were you hoping to get something for nothing?"

"How did you…?" She had been caught off guard when she felt her chakra had been disrupted. But more so, she was shocked by that the fact that someone from this side of the planet knew enough about chakra to effectively use it.

"If you're going to try and fool me with a Genjutsu, do a better job next time," he told her, sounding annoyed and disappointed.

"How did you know it was a Genjutsu?!"

The person smirked at that. "Why should I have to tell you?" Azula noticed that he was having fun with all of this. It looked like he was trying to send them up the proverbial wall, and while she found it annoying that he did it with her, she found it amusing when he did it to anyone other than her.

"Who the hell are you?!" Kiba shouted, pointing his finger at the cloaked person, who simply was unfazed by his outburst.

He couldn't help but chuckled. "I guess the Inuzuka clan isn't as good at recognizing scents as they thought they are."

"How the hell do you know what clan I'm from? I don't even know you!"

He sighed. "Such a shame. I would have thought you of all people would recognize who I am." He looked directly at Kiba. "Isn't that right, Inu-teme?"

Suddenly everything in the conversation came back to him. The fact the person knew about Genjutsu, the fact he knew Kiba was from the Inuzuka clan, his voice, his scent, and the insult. There only one person who used that insult on him. His face and eyes widened at the realization of who he was talking to. "It can't be. Naruto?" he asked in a confused voice, making Team Kurenai look at him and then look at the person in shock.

"Ding ding ding ding! The Inu-teme gets it in one," Naruto announced out loud as he lowered his hood. Naruto turned to the Tribesman and gave him a small nod. "How are you're doing, Sokka?"

"I'm doing fine, Naruto." He answered. He wasn't sure why, but they had just slipped into a casual conversation. "But I do have a question: why are you wearing the hood? We already know who you are." He pointed to Aang and his sister.

"Actually, I had my hood up for two reasons. One: the sun was glaring into my face, so I had it up to give me some shade," He explained. It seemed like the easiest explanation to give as he and the girls came up to the platform. However, there was another reason as well.

"And the second?" asked Sokka.

"To make sure that, on the off chance that some of my Fangirls are here, they don't recognize me," he said, suppressing a small shudder at the mere prospect of it.

Sokka looked a little confused. "So, your Fangirls won't recognize you?" he repeated. It sounded quite ridiculous out loud.

Naruto nodded and shuddered at the thought of them catching him. "It's a scary, but true. If one of my Fangirls catches even one glimpse of me, I would be running for my life for quite some."

By this time Kurenai had found her voice again. "Naruto, is that really you?" she asked him, almost not believing it. But he was right there, standing before them.

"And the delegation from Konoha has found their voices," he remarked sarcastically, making Ty Lee giggle while Mai and Azula smirked.

"What are you doing here? Your banishment was repealed!" She and her team, as well as the others, had been looking for him ever since it had been repelled. And all this time, he had been on this side of the planet.

"And your point is?" he asked her, sounding bored and uncaring.

"Why haven't you come back?"

"Well, I wouldn't have heard about it if I was here for three years, now would I?" His remark hit home. He wouldn't have heard about it if he hadn't been in the Elemental Countries.

"You can come home now, man! The charges were proven to be baseless!" Kiba said with glee. He was looking to catching up with the blonde and seeing how he had changed.

But the next thing to come out of Naruto's mouth stunned the Inuzuka. "So?" he asked. Every member of Team Kurenai went still at those words. They had told him he could come home, and he made it sound like he didn't want to.

"Hey, Naruto?" called out Sokka, who took the silence as a moment to talk. "Back in the Northern Water Tribe, we had a Fire Nation prisoner. He called me the Paragon of the Water Tribes." He began to explain.

Naruto's face brightened a little at those words. "I take it that you found the medallion?"

"Yeah, I did. The prisoner started calling me a Paragon after I had shown it to him. So, what exactly is a Paragon?"

Before Naruto could answer, Kiba interrupted. "That's all you have to say? So?"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked with exasperation and annoyance, his face showing that. "Can't you see I'm talking with someone?"

"We have just told that your banishment has been lifted and you can return to the village. Logically you would be happy to hear that and would try to get back to the village as soon as you could," Shino said. He was sure that was how Naruto would've reacted at the news.

"Oh, buzz off, bug boy," the blonde waved him off, trying to get back to the conversation with Sokka.

"Naruto, please stop this," Hinata suddenly spoke up. "Let's go home. Everyone has been waiting for you. You can be a shinobi again."

The silence was almost deafening. Naruto said nothing as he thought over the conversation. To Team Kurenai, it looked he was about to accept their offer and their hopes raised.

They were stunned when he simply laughed. "You make it sound like I hate my current job, White Eyes," he told her, earning a shocked gasp from her and warning growls from Kiba and Akamaru. "You have also forgotten that the old hag did not actually banish me, I left. So that makes me a missing-nin, therefore I don't have to go back. The bingo book would have listed the price of the bounty on my head, if Konoha paid attention to the fact that their ninja had just left without notifying the Hokage about it. I suppose that all of you would have been richly rewarded for capturing me in the first place," he finished smugly.

"You're coming with us, Naruto," Kurenai told him as her team got into their fighting stances. "If you refuse to come willingly, then we will force you to come with us." They had looked for him for too long. They weren't going to stop just because he didn't want to come. She was confident that once he was back in Konoha, he would be back to normal.

"I liked to see you try," he told them with a smirk. "But before everything goes to hell in a hand basket, I liked to finish my conversation with Sokka." He turned to the Tribesman in question. "I take it that you already studied Waterbending?"

He was surprised by the blonde's words. "How did you know that?" he asked that.

"Your posture is relaxed but also ready to move at a moment's notice. Your sister also has the same posture and I know she's a Waterbender," he pointed out. "Plus, you were up in the Northern Water Tribe for some. You were bound to learn it."

"Yeah, I've studied Waterbending and a little of Airbending," he admitted. He was traveling with the last Airbender after all.

"That's good thinking on your part." Naruto complimented him with an acknowledging nod. "Do you have any questions for me?"

"Just one: what exactly is this medallion?" he asked, pulling out his medallion.

Naruto would've answered, but he noticed Team Kurenai. "Sorry Sokka but I'm gonna have to tell you later, your protectors are spoiling for a fight." He gestured to the shinobi team to emphasize his point before turning to Azula. "Do you mind if I have a little fun, Princess?"

"It makes no difference to me," she answered, shrugging her shoulders. While she kept a collected posture and expression on the outside, on the inside she was getting excited. It was always entertaining to see her bodyguard fight, at least when it wasn't her fighting him.

"Things are different now, Naruto! We're not Genin anymore and you haven't had a teacher in the past three years," Kiba told him. He and his teammates had trained hard in the past three years.

'Who says I didn't have a teacher?" Naruto asked as he undid the clasp on his cloak and pulled it off. Underneath the cloak, he wore a brown shirt underneath a black vest that was tied off at the waist with a steel-colored cloth-belt. His pants a dark red color. He wore boots but didn't tuck the legs of his pants into them. He had a jian slung across his back but to others it seemed odd how he had done it. He had slung it so that the handle of the sword was pointing to the ground, just under his left arm, while the scabbard jutted out into the air from behind his right shoulder. His appearance made no attempt to hide the muscles he clearly had, causing Katara and Hinata to involuntary blush. Despite having seen it before, Ty Lee and Azula also sported blushes (Azula was able to hide hers better but not by much).

"Sokka, allow me to show you a simple Earthbending trick that Paragons can use. Think of it as a lesson." He took a strip of cloth from his pocket and tied it around his eyes. "Now then, let's begin."

At that point, Kurenai had disappeared and suddenly, tree roots sprang up from the platform, grew quickly, and coiled around Naruto. Soon enough, he was pinned against a tree with two roots holding him. He did not struggle against the roots as everyone watched him, Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai with worry, Team Kurenai with satisfaction and Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Akela with curiosity.

"It's over, Naruto," Kurenai said as she appeared out of the tree above him. If she was honest, she was a little disappointed. She had hoped he would put up more of a fight. However, she didn't dwell on it. Instead, she drew her fist back.

But before she could knock him unconscious with the fist, he made a fist of his own with his right hand and slammed it into her face, tearing through the roots that held him in the process. "If you're going to hold me with Genjutsu, Kurenai, at least try. That was pathetic at best," he told her as the Genjutsu failed. He had been hoping for a little more but was so far disappointed. "With any luck, that wasn't their best," he thought as he waited.

She recovered and leapt back over to where her team was. "He broke a B-rank Genjutsu like it was nothing and he didn't even see me!" She thought to herself in surprise. Apparently, he had changed in the past three years, but she had no time to worry as she quickly gave orders to her team. "Kiba, Shino, Hinata, containment formation!" If a solo attack wouldn't work, teamwork would definitely do it.

"Understood, Kurenai-sensei," replied Shino. Team Kurenai had used this formation before. Kiba and Akamaru would engage the target, but not to beat him. They would just wear him down. Meanwhile, Hinata would get in close and use her Jūken to hit the target's Tenketsu. After the target's chakra was cut off, Shino would hold him down with his kikaichū while Kurenai would apply a Genjutsu on the target, subduing him.

"Let's go, Akamaru!" Kiba leapt at Naruto with Akamaru on his side. "Gatsūga (Fang over Fang)!" The two of them started twisting around, spinning faster and faster until they looked like small, grey tornados. As they hurtled towards Naruto, he did nothing but wait. When it looked like they were about to hit him, he simply knelt, letting them pass each other overhead. "Crap! We missed!" Kiba thought. Both He and Akamaru tried to do a U-turn in mid-air so they could try to hit Naruto again.

But it was an idea only. As both Kiba and Akamaru passed over Naruto, he whipped out his arms and plunged his hands into the two tornados, quickly grabbing Akamaru's tail and Kiba's leg. Tossing Akamaru up into the air, he swung Kiba down and punched him in hard in the stomach. The Inuzuka's breath was taken right out from him and he tried to keep his last meal down, especially when he crashed into the platform. That slowed him down enough for Naruto to take advantage of. The blonde stood back up and kicked him back over to his teammates. He then jumped upwards, and roundhouse kicked Akamaru in the side, causing him to crash back into the ground in front of Kiba.

"Still the same, Inu-teme, always rushing into a fight," stated Naruto as he landed on the ground. "He was a harder fight back in the Chūnin Exams," he thought.

"The difference here is that you already know how he fights," the Kyūbi reminded him.

"And he doesn't know how I fight now." He replied. That was when he felt his legs somehow go numb. When he sensed the bugs, he knew who was trying to attack him. "Trying to hold me with your kikaichū, Shino?" he asked aloud. Shino said nothing, that way he wouldn't let Naruto find out that he had moved closer and off to the side a little. "Not talking so that you'll hope I won't find out that you've changed your position?"

Shino was surprised by Naruto's question. "How did he know? I was completely silent as I moved and I did it while he was occupied with Kiba!" he thought.

"Points for trying but…" The blonde disappeared with a smoke plume. In his place was a piece of lumber from a nearby pile.

"He used a Kawarimi (Body Replacement)!" Shino quickly spun around to try to find where Naruto had gone to, only to see his covered eyes looking at him.

"You still fail," he said before decking Shino. He kicked him back towards his teammates, dissatisfied with their lack of effort. "That's three down. I'm not impressed." Sensing the incoming attack, he leaned back to avoid Hinata's fist and remarked mostly to himself, while trying to avoid having his tenketsu closed, "And now it's Miss. White Eyes' turn to subdue me."

"Please Naruto, just stop. I-I don't w-want to this," Hinata said as she attacked, her old stutter coming back. She had worked hard to get rid of that stutter, but it sometimes popped up when she didn't need it (like now, for instance).

"Uh-huh," he said in a disbelieving tone as he kept avoiding her strikes. Even though it had been three years since he went up against the fighting style of the Hyūga clan, he remembered enough of it to completely avoid her strikes.

"Please, Naruto. Stop this. I don't want to f-fight you." If anything, she wanted to him to stop all this and come back with them.

"In that case, please hold still so I could beat you," he replied. But he didn't strike back. He just kept avoiding her strikes with ease.

Hinata didn't say anymore, she just kept trying to hit him with her Jūken but she kept missing. Naruto stayed just out of her reach by ducking, weaving and dodging. As Katara watched the fight, she realized something. "He's moving like an Airbender!" When she looked over at Aang, she could see that he had realized it too.

"Sounds like your friends are about to join us again," Naruto commented, making Hinata take a quick glance behind and saw that her team was about to rejoin the fight. Taking advantage of her distraction, he swept her legs out from under her, making her fall. Moving quickly, he grabbed her hair and pulled it back, exposing her throat which he grabbed tightly with his other hand.

"Move and she dies!" he barked out, his hand begining to tighten around her throat.

The rest of Team Kurenai stopped cold. "Let her go, Naruto!" Kiba demanded. It was probably a redundant thing to say, but it wasn't the time to think of things like that.

"No," The blonde replied shortly.

"You won't do this, Naruto," Kurenai told him. "Despite what you think, you're not a killer."

"And how would you know I'm not a killer?" Naruto asked as he continued to tighten his grip, slowly suffocating Hinata.

The Konoha Jōnin smiled. Despite everything that had just happened, she was still sure she knew him. "Because you're Naruto Uzumaki, and you would never hurt your friends."

Naruto sighed and released his grip, allowing Hinata to breathe again. Just when they thought he was about to let her go, he spoke. "Mai, could I please borrow one of your knives?" She took out one of her many knives and threw it to him. He caught it in the air, and said, "Thank you." Mai simply gave a nod as Naruto plunged her borrowed knife into Hinata's stomach. The other side looked on in horror at what they had just witnessed. All of them flinched as they heard Hinata scream while Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee let nothing show.

"What are you screaming about?" Naruto asked her derisively as she stopped screaming. "I didn't stab anything critical. However, if I were to drag this to your left…" He pulled the knife lightly in that direction, making Hinata gasp in pain. "I would tear open your liver and that would kill you."

"Naruto, you bastard!" yelled an outraged Kiba. He would've done something if his teammate wasn't being held hostage.

"Oh, relax. I'm not going to kill her like that." He pulled the knife out of her and tossed it back to Mai, who wiped it clean and sheathed it. "It takes too long." He formed a Rasengan with one hand and asked, "Have you ever seen what a Rasengan does to a face? It's not pretty. Perhaps I should show you what it does?" He brought the Rasengan closer to Hinata's face. The swirling edge of the blue orb seemed to hover an inch before her cheek.

"Alright, Naruto, you win. Just don't do it," Kurenai begged, knowing that they were defeated. "What do you want us to do?"

"That's simple: turn around and leave. The king stays with us," he ordered, still holding the Rasengan close to his hostage's face.

"What about Hinata?"

"I will let Hinata go so that we know one of us can act in good faith," he replied, reminding her of her failed Genjutsu attempt.

"What happen to you, Naruto?" she asked. "What happened to that kid who would shout about being Hokage one day? What happened to the kid that we all cared about?"

"He grew up. Spending three years fighting in a war and protecting someone from assassinations will do that to a person." He released Hinata and let the Rasengan fade away. As soon as she felt his grip leave, she ran back to her team. "That kid died the moment that Konoha made it clear that he was no longer wanted."

As soon as Hinata reached her, Kurenai turned to face Aang and the others. "We're leaving," she stated.

"But what about Bumi?" asked Aang. "We can't just leave him, can we?" His friend was right there, within easy reach. They couldn't just leave him there.

"You knew this could happen, Aang. We took a gamble and we lost," Sokka told him. "Right now, it's best if we get out of here." If they didn't, things might get even worse.

"That was very nicely done, Naruto. You did well against them," Azula told him as he rejoined them.

"It wasn't hard. They were predictable, that's all. I faced tougher enemies out on the battlefields." He replied as he took the cloth off his eyes. He was a little disappointed with their performance against him. He would've thought they would get better in three years. But that was not the case here. He wasn't sure if they did not know how to deal with him or if it was because of what he had been through in the last three years.

Mai gave a signal, and the iron coffin holding Bumi was being taken back up. "See you all later!" he called out as he gave off a mad laugh.

Aang watched as his friend was being pulled upwards. He couldn't take it anymore. He had to save his friend. "Bumi!" He shouted as he raced across the platform.

"Get back here, Aang!" Sokka called out to the Airbender. Aang ignored him as he leapt up the scaffolding and then off it. As he opened his glider and began to fly, his hat came off, showing his arrow tattoo.

As they watched this whole spectacle, Naruto simply turned to Azula. "I told you it was going to be him," he said.

"Yes, you did, "Azula replied. "And now, it's my lucky day." She raced up the scaffolding after her target.

"Well, I've had my share of fun." Naruto turned around and started to walk away. "It's your turn, girls," he told Mai and Ty Lee, who rushed towards Sokka and the others.

"We need to get out of here!" Katara said as she readied herself for a fight.

Sokka was already blowing on the bison-shaped whistle that was always carried by one of them. "Way ahead of ya," he told her. He looked at Team Kurenai, which was still in a bit of a mess. "Can you guys move?" he asked them.

"Yeah, we can," Kurenai answered. They might've been hurt, but they could move.

"We need to get out of here and you guys have already fought, so it's our turn. Katara, give us some cover while I get them out. Akela, stay with Katara and help her out," Sokka ordered. Katara didn't argue.

"Akamaru, you do the same but stay close to her," Kiba told his partner, who barked in acknowledgment.

As they tried to get to the ladder, Sokka was tripped by a fist coming up from under the platform. He skidded to the edge but stopped just as his head was hanging out over the edge (which Shino and Kurenai pulled him away from). Jumping out from a hole in the platform, Ty Lee went after him.

Katara was about to stop her when Mai flung a couple of knives at her. She quickly bent her water to tear off some of the wooden planks on the platform. They leapt up just in time to block the knives. Using her water, Katara shoved the planks back at Mai before bending her water into a whip and throwing it at Ty Lee. Grabbing her ankle, she quickly dragged the acrobat back, allowing Sokka and the others to escape.

Then they heard a yell coming from above. Bumi's iron coffin, with Aang on it, fell past them. Taking notice of where they were going to land (one of the many slides of Omashu), Aang acted quickly and bent the air below them into a cushion so that they landed safely on the slide. Azula watched them speed away for a second before jumping into a cart and going after them.

"Just like old times, isn't it Bumi?" Aang asked as they flew done the slide. He couldn't help but laugh in excitement at it.

"Aang! I need to talk to you!" Bumi shouted, but the wind muffled his words so Aang heard something a little different.

"It's good to see you too!" he replied. Then he noticed that Azula had caught up with them.

Meanwhile, Katara was fighting against Mai. Akamaru and Akela were keeping a close guard around her so that Mai couldn't get close and Ty Lee had disappeared from her sight. She bent her water while Mai used projectiles. After bending backwards to avoid a water whip, Mai shot a needle from her ankle-holster. Katara quickly formed her water into ice to block the needle and Mai used that to charge forward.

Katara melted the ice back into water and shot at Mai, who had just flung her arm in a throwing motion. The water engulfed her arm and hardened back into ice, effectively trapping her arm. However, Katara's victory was short-lived. Ty Lee appeared from behind and rushed Katara, sweeping the legs out from under Akela and Akamaru in the process. Taking advantage of the Water Tribe girl's surprise, she jabbed several points in Katara's arms before leaping away to Mai's side. Once that happened, the ice surrounding Mai's arm melted and felled on the ground. Not sure what exactly had happened, Katara tried to bend the water, only for it to rise sluggishly and then fall down again.

"How are you're going fight without your Bending?" Mai asked mockingly, pulling out a three-bladed knife. But before she could throw the knife, it was knocked out of her hand by Sokka's boomerang.

"I seem to manage!" the Tribesman declared from atop of Appa. The sky bison quickly landed in front of the two girls and blasted air at them so hard that they flew away. Katara as well as the dogs quickly got on board after that. Katara joined her brother on Appa's head while Akela and Akamaru joined Team Kurenai in the saddle.

Soon enough, Appa flying down the city with everyone on board looking for Aang. Katara saw him first. "There he is!" she said, pointing to a particular slide.

"We can catch him!" Sokka brought Appa down closer to the slide while Aang was trying to defend himself from Azula's fire.

"Hang on Bumi! Our ride's here!" the Air Nomad told his friend. As Appa got right alongside the slide, Aang bent the air to lift Bumi's iron coffin up over Appa. Sokka and Katara tried to grab hold and bring it down, but it sailed over their heads. Both Aang and Bumi smashed through a different slide before landing in the first one again. Azula quickly bent her fire into a wheel and sent it after them.

Watching the fire wheel come after them, Bumi gave a grunt of effort and lifted his chin, causing a small column of rock to shoot up from the slide and stop the fire. It was also giving them the bonus of stopping Azula by smashing her cart into it, making her jump out of it and land on her feet. After skidding to a stop on the slide, she watched the two of them race away.

"You could Earthbend? All along?!" asked a stunned Aang. He couldn't believe that his friend could do something like that.

"Well, they didn't cover my face," King Bumi replied. As they got near the end of the slide, he moved his chin and caused another column to shoot up at the end. Aang jumped off as the iron coffin landed on top of the column.

"I don't understand. Why didn't you free yourself? Why did you surrender when Omashu was invaded? What's the matter with you, Bumi?!" Aang demanded. He had a lot of questions and he wanted them to be answered.

"Listen to me, Aang. There are options in fighting called jing. It's a choice of how you direct your energy," Bumi told him.

"I know! There's positive jing when you're attacking and negative jing when you're retreating," Aang told him, sounding a bit like a little know-it-all brat.

"And neutral jing when you do nothing!" exclaimed the king of Omashu.

That, he did not know. "There are three jings?"

"Well, technically there are eighty-five, but let's just focus on the third. Neutral jing is the key to Earthbending. It involves listening and waiting for the right moment to strike," he explained.

"That's why you surrendered," Aang said, realizing what his old friend had done. "Isn't it?"

"Well, I also surrender because that youngster Naruto asked so nicely. But it's also the reason why I can't leave now."

When he heard that, the Avatar became disheartened. "I guess I need to find someone else to teach me Earthbending," he said as he turned away from his old friend.

"Your teacher will be someone who has mastered neutral Jing. You need to find someone who waits and listens before striking," Bumi assured him.

Out of nowhere Momo landed on Aang's shoulder, making him turn to face Bumi again. "Hey, Momo," he greeted the lemur, happy to see him again.

"Momo's mastered a few jings himself," Bumi noted, earning a screech from the lemur. "Goodbye, Aang. I'll see you when the time is right." He pushed his coffin back onto the slide and bent the rock to push him back up the slide, laughing madly all the way. As he watched his friend disappear, Aang saw Appa arrive.

---

The atmosphere was a little tense as they headed back to the resistance camp. No one really talked to Aang, who finally decided to break the silence. "Are you all mad with me?" he asked them.

"We're not mad, we're disappointed," Sokka answered, making him a bit nervous.

"We will talk about this later," Kurenai told them. "For now, let's get back to the resistance." They all nodded in agreement and let Appa continue his flight. The silence had returned and now, it was beginning to make the flight seem longer. No one said a word, which didn't help Aang's nerves.

When they landed just outside of the camp, they noticed that it was too quiet. "They should have noticed us landing," Sokka noted. A landing sky-bison did tend to make some noise.

"Let's move quickly, something might have happened," Kurenai ordered. They hurried to the camp and when they saw what had happened, they didn't like it. All the civilians were gagged and bound. All the warriors and Earthbenders were all on the ground and not moving.

And sitting on a rock, in the middle of the camp, and playing with the toddler, was Naruto. "It took you guys long enough," he said when he looked up and noticed them.

"What did you do, Naruto?!" Hinata asked in shock, looking around at everyone there.

"Huh? Oh, you mean them?" He gestured to the people on the ground with a free hand (which soon went back to playing with the toddler). "Don't worry, they're only unconscious. By the way, my congratulations to you, Kurenai," the blonde said to her.

"Congratulations?" She was suspicious of those words, as she didn't know what he meant.

"When you trapped me in that Genjutsu, I looked for your chakra so I would know where to attack. I was quite surprised when I found you. Now that I think about it, you looked like you're almost glowing. I just surprised that Inu-teme here hasn't figured it out yet." He pointed to Kiba with a free thumb.

"Care to explain by what you said, you bastard?" Kiba growled, insulted about his smelling ability being derided. The blonde ignored him, focusing on the toddler in his lap.

"Why are you here?" Katara asked with caution, figuring that it was now best to trend with caution with him.

"I'm just here to get Tom-Tom here," he answered, bouncing the toddler on his knee, making him giggle. "Also, to finish my conversation with Sokka, as we were kind of interrupted last time."

"Okay, what is this thing and what do these symbols mean?" He showed Naruto the medallion again.

"That's an easy one. It's the Medallion of the Paragon of the Water Tribe. It shows that the person who wears it is a Paragon. There are only four Paragon Medallions." He reached into his shirt with a free hand and drew out a similar medallion. The difference between the two was the pattern; the top of Naruto's medallion had the right-side triangle while Sokka's had the upside-down triangle on the top.

"Well, what do the symbols mean?" Sokka asked again.

"They are the ancient symbols for the four elements. Yours starts at the top with Water and goes clockwise with Earth, Fire and Air," the blonde explained.

Sokka took a closer look at Naruto's medallion. "I'm guessing that yours is Fire, Air, Water and Earth?"

"You catch on quick."

Sokka continued with his questions. "Why did you make me a Paragon?"

"Because when I met you, you had the two requirements that were needed to become a Paragon."

His answer was short and yet, confusing. "What does that mean?"

"The first requirement is easy, but the second one is a little more difficult," he told the Tribesman.

Now he was even more confused but went with it. "What's the first requirement?"

"Simple. You're not a Bender." The collective word that everyone said was. "Huh?" When he saw how confused they were, the blonde clarified for them. "To have even the chance of being a Paragon, you cannot be a Bender."

Sokka decided to continue with the questions. "What's the second requirement?"

Naruto smiled, and answered, "The guts to never give up,"

That didn't make enough sense to him, so he had to say it. "What?"

"Think of it like this. Back in the Northern Water Tribe, if I had continued walking to get Aang, what would you have done?" he asked.

"I would've fought you myself," the Tribesman answered without hesitation.

"Even if you knew I could've easily killed you?"

"You were going after one of my friends. If I was going to die, then I might as well take you down with me," he told the blonde and he meant every word of it. He protected both his friends and his family fiercely.

Naruto's smiled turned into a full-blown grin. "Excellent answer. That's why you're a Paragon."

"Okay. I only have one question left." Sokka told him. "What does a Paragon do?"

"Basically, we keep an eye on him." The blonde pointed at Aang.

"Me? Why me?" asked the Airbender in surprise.

He looked at the Air Nomad with a curious gaze, and asked, "Let me ask you something, Avatar Aang. Have you ever heard about Avatars that have gone power-mad or just insane?"

"No because that would never happen." The Avatar was there to bring peace and balance to the four countries, not rule over them. No Avatar would do that, he was sure of it.

He laughed at that. "You've never heard of them because every time an Avatar has gone mad or tries to conquer the planet, the Paragons have stepped in."

"What are you talking about?" Aang asked, uncomfortable with what the blonde had already said.

"The four Paragons are there to watch and monitor the Avatar in case he does go mad with power or just lose his sanity. When that happens, the Paragons will kill the Avatar," Naruto answered, keeping it short and to the point.

No one said a word as the information went through their heads. Sokka was the first to recover, remembering something that had happened to him. "Paragons also have a power over the Avatar State, don't they?" he asked Naruto.

He nodded. "Yes, they do. A Paragon can cut the link between the Avatar and the Avatar State. I'm guessing you've already used that ability?" Sokka nodded. "Well, that's all the time I have for you, now I must be going." Naruto told them as he stood up from the rock with Tom-Tom in his arms.

"Where do you think you're going, Naruto?" Shino asked him.

"I'm leaving, isn't it obvious?"

"And you do think you can go? You are surrounded and you have just been in battle. You are tried and you plan to leave with someone. It is logical for you to surrender now."

Naruto gave a mischievous grin. "Two things, bug boy," he told Shino. "Number one: I barely broke a sweat when I fought you guys. Number Two: Remember when I said that you were trying to get something for nothing?"

Before they could answer, both he and Tom-Tom disappeared with poof! As they waved the smoke that was left, they saw a note left on the rock. Sokka picked it up and read aloud to the group.

I guess I'm better than you when it comes to that.

Naruto

Aang looked around at everyone. "What do we do now?" He was still stunned by the fact that he apparently had a group of people who would kill him if he made a mistake. Once he realized that, he couldn't help but remember that spirit he met at Fong's fortress.

"Let's get the civilians untied and wake up the warriors and Earthbenders," Sokka decided for them. "After that, we leave Omashu, fast."

"In the meantime, my team and I need to make a report." Kurenai said, turning to her team. "Lady Tsunade must be told of what has happened."

(Location: Omashu)

Azula sat within the palanquin as Mai and Ty Lee walked beside it. "So, we're tracking down your brother and uncle, huh?" Mai asked.

"It'll be interesting seeing Zuko again, won't it, Mai?" Ty Lee's eyes had a slight mischievous glint in them as she looked at her friend. Mai looked away and smiled for an answer.

"It's not just Zuko and Iroh anymore," Azula told the two of them. "We have a third target now."

They walked in silence for a little bit before Mai asked another question. "Where's Naruto?" She didn't see the blonde anywhere nearby.

"He told me that he was going to see your parents, he'll meet us at the camp." Azula replied.

---

The governor held his wife as they stood on the balcony, looking sadly out to the mountains, which they could still see in the evening light. Although Omashu became peaceful with the resistance's sudden departure, as well as the civilians who went with them, it was a little too quiet for the governor's comfort. The governor's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the door.

"My Lord, Lord Naruto would like to speak with you," a guard spoke from behind them.

"Bring him forward," The governor told the guard. Even though he didn't want to speak anyone, one could not casually refuse Princess Azula's guard, especially if he had some important message to deliver, or a request to make.

They soon heard footsteps coming up behind them. Naruto greeted the two of them. "My lord and lady."

They didn't turn around to look at him. "What is it that you want?" he asked.

"I brought you something that I think you would like," Naruto replied casually.

"What is it?" He and his wife heard a cooing sound they knew very well. Quickly turning around, they saw Tom-Tom in Naruto's arms.

"There they are," the blonde said to Tom-Tom as he knelt and placed the toddler on the ground. When he noticed that his parents were there, he began to walk toward them, cooing at them.

"Tom-Tom!" cried his mother as she rushed forward, picked him, and hugged him.

The governor enfolded them both in a hug of his own. "Thank you so much," he said as tears ran freely down his face.

Naruto smiled as he bowed his head. "It was nothing." He told them as he walked past them to the edge of the balcony. "I'll be sure to tell Mai that her brother is safe."

He assured them before jumping over the railing and into the night, leaving the reunited family to enjoy this moment.

(Location: Azula's camp)

He walked into a newly created campsite and noticed Mai and Ty Lee were sitting at the fire. Although it was not as big as the resistance's camp that he came across, it was enough to hold up to four people.

"Hey, cutie," Ty Lee chirped when she saw him walk up to them.

"Hey, Ty Lee," He greeted back. He looked over at Mai. "I got something to tell you, Doom and Gloom."

"What is it?" Mai asked him, acting like she didn't care.

"Your brother is back with your parents."

When she heard those words, a rare smile came onto her face. "Thank Agni for that," she said in relief.

He looked at her like she had just done something weird. "Did you just use an emotion?"

Mai's warm expression turned cold quickly as she began to finger a knife. "Don't push your luck," she warned him. "I'm certain I can hit you from here.

"Alright," he said, putting his hands in mock surrender. When she stopped fingering the knife, he put his hands down. "I take it she's in her tent?" he asked Ty Lee,.

She nodded "Yeah, she is." They both looked over at the biggest tent in the camp. It wasn't a huge tent, but it was still the biggest.

"Thanks," he told her before walking over to the tent. He could hear the sounds coming from the fire reaching out to his eyes. It was still there when he stood in front of the tent flap.

When he stepped in, he saw Azula sitting in a meditative pose in front of three candles. It was only when she looked up to see Naruto enter her tent, did she pause her meditation. "So, you're back," she said while breathing in and out. As she did, the fires on the candles raised and lowered with her breathing.

"Yeah, I am." He stayed silent for a few minutes as he watched her breathe in and out. "You know, it's been a whilesince I've seen you do that exercise," he finally commented, breaking the silence.

"It was one of the things that all those Firebender teachers kept pounding into my head." No matter who she had, they always told her the same thing.

He gave a small smile. "Never forget the basics," he recited, having been there for some of her lessons. She nodded her head in agreement and continued the exercise. Again, he stayed silent for a few minutes before realizing that she was worried about something. "What's worrying you, Azula?"

She stopped the exercise but didn't turn to face him. Naruto noticed the anxious look on her face, but he simply smiled. "I have both of my friends here with me, but I still don't have my answer. What if I never find it?" That little thought made her worry. If there is one thing Azula did not like, it was to worry about minor things that may become major issues.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw him standing behind her. "Don't worry. This is one of those things that take time. You just need to have some patience, all right?" he told her, assuring her with an easy smile. She nodded. He removed his hand from her shoulder and stepped back. "Alright then. Have you decided who to go after?" he asked, his tone grew more serious.

"Yes, we're going after the Avatar," she answered. Going after him would be much better than going after her disgraced brother and uncle.

"Understood," he replied, not batting an eyelash at what she said. "I took the liberty of requesting three mongoose dragons from Omashu. They should be here in the morning."

"Three?" she asked, turning to face him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, for you, Ty Lee, and Mai."

"Where's the fourth one?"

"What do you mean?" the blonde asked, confused by what she meant.

"I highly doubt that you will be able to stay with us if you're not riding one as well," She pointed out. Mongoose dragons were among the fastest animals she knew about.

He grinned. "Princess, if anything, those mongoose dragons will have to take rest periods in order to stay with me at my top speed." He turned around. "I'll see to it that the squad goes back to Omashu before leaving for the Fire Nation."

"Naruto," she said, stopping him at the tent flap. "Those people today, the ones that were shocked to see you. Who are they?" She knew that they knew him in some way, but that was it.

"…My past," he answered shortly before leaving the tent.

"What are you hiding from me, Naruto?" she thought to herself. Deciding to think about it, she went back to her exercise.

"You're going to tell her who they are sooner or later, kit," the Kyūbi told his Jinchūriki as the blonde went to set up his sleeping bag.

"I know, Kyūbi. I just hope it's later," he mentally replied.

(Location: Konoha)

"Kami, do I need a drink!" Tsunade said aloud as she went through the paperwork on her desk. She pushed back away from her desk and looked out the window. The afternoon sun shined down on the village, sometimes getting obscured by the occasional cloud. All-in-all, it was a perfect day. "It's times like these that make me think of him," she thought, remembering a certain blonde. "Where are you, Naruto?"

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune yelled from the hallway, bursting through the doors.

"What's the matter, Shizune?" she asked, worried that something had happened.

Her apprentice held out a scroll for her. "This just came through the transport seal. It's from Kurenai's team and was marked urgent."

Tsunade took the scroll, opened it, and began reading. After a few minutes, she looked up . "Shizune, get Team Asuma and Team Guy in here, ASAP," she ordered.

"Them? They just got back from a mission, why do you need them now?" She simply showed her the open scroll. She stood completely still, reading and re-reading the first sentence. "I'll go get them right away." She left the office fast.

Tsunade put the scroll down and reached for her hidden stash of sake. That first sentence stayed fresh in her mind.

Lady Tsunade

Naruto Uzumaki has been found.

End

Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.

Let me be clear about this. This is just a Naruto/Azula story. There will be no harem. Not every story needs to be a harem story.

This story is not an intentional Aang bashing. I just personally find him to be an idiot on many occasions.

For those of you who don't like what the Paragons do, I just have one question: are you telling me that in the giant flock of Avatars, there hasn't been a few black sheep?

For those of you who were wondering about the clothes, yes, I did describe their Shippūden clothes. With Naruto, he's basically wearing what Zuko wore in the latter half of season 3 with different colors.

What Kurenai has will be revealed in the next chapter (although if you've read Naruto, then you who know what it is); the cloaked spirit will be shown again as well as his name.

I'll see you all next chapter!