Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.
Bodyguard of Azula
Chapter 14: Attempts and Surprises
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Bijū/spirit talking"
"Bijū/spirit thinking"
(Location: Ba Sing Se)
Team Avatar had stayed the night in the monorail station and taken the first ride out in the morning. The ride was long, but they knew they had to be patient. Katara was the first one to notice. "Look, the Inner Wall!" she said, directing everyone's attention to said Inner Wall. "I can't believe we finally made it to Ba Sing Se in one piece."
"Hey, don't jinx it," Sokka told her. "We could still be attacked by a giant exploding Fire Nation spoon or find out the city's been submerged in an ocean full of killer shrimp."
Both Shù Yè and Akela gave him the "Are you crazy?" look. "You been hitting the cactus juice again?" asked Toph. It sounded like he had been doing that.
"No, that's Chōji," he replied, making Shù Yè snicker and Chōji wince at the memory. "Besides, weird stuff happens to us." And as if to emphasize his point, a large man sucking on some sort of corn plant sat down between them with a very dazed look on his face.
"What do you think happened to him?" Ino whispered to Shikamaru.
"It's too troublesome to think about it," he replied.
"That's your answer to everything!" Honestly, he could try to come up with a better answer. Then she remembered that she was talking about Shikamaru of all people.
"That's enough, you two," Asuma told them.
Aang looked away from the window with a downcast expression. Katara saw the expression and decided to cheer him up. "Don't worry Aang," she told him. "We'll find Appa."
"It's such a big city," he replied.
"He's a giant bison," Sokka said, joining the conversation. "Where could someone possibly hide him?" It couldn't be that hard.
They soon got an answer as the monorail passed through the Inner Wall tunnel and they saw the city for the first time in their lives. "Dear Kami, it's at least twenty times bigger than Konoha!" Chōji said in awe as he looked the gigantic city, with buildings that were spread out for miles.
"Hey, ice-chewer," Shù Yè called out as she stared out the window. All she could see was buildings that seemed to be everywhere. The streets that ran through all of them looked like veins in a body, all stretching and interconnecting (perhaps it was more like a maze or a labyrinth. She couldn't decide).
"What?" Sokka asked back, pulling his face away from the window. He was already resigned to the fact she was going to keep calling him that.
"Would you like some help putting your foot in your mouth?" she asked with an innocent expression.
"Shut up." He turned back to the window.
They soon came into a monorail station where they disembarked. A spectacular view of Ba Sing Se greeted them as they disembarked. "Back in the city," Toph said as she rubbed Momo's head. "Great."
"What's the problem?" Sokka asked her. "It's amazing!" He had never seen anything like it before. But he now knew why it was the maps always made it quite visible to see. Once you were inside, it was all you could see.
"Just a bunch of walls and rules," she answered. "You wait. You'll get sick of it in a couple of days." She knew the truth of it, and they would too, hopefully later then sooner.
"Okay, our first order of business is to find some food!" Chōji declared, patting his stomach.
"You had food at the monorail station just before we left," Ino told him. She remembered him scarfing down on the stuff quite vividly.
"That was not food!" he declared with a harsh expression. "That was fertilizer at best and something a rat wouldn't eat at worst!"
"That's harsh," Asuma commented. The last time he checked, all food was okay to Chōji. The Akimichi didn't judge, he just ate.
"You gotta remember, Asuma-sensei," Shikamaru said. "If an Akimichi isn't a shinobi, he's a food critic. Since Chōji's going to be the next clan head, he's gotta be both."
Aang stood near the railing with the open view of Ba Sing Se before. He took out the bison whistle and blew. But nothing responded, like he had thought. "I'm coming for you, buddy," He said to himself. As Katara walked up behind him, he turned his head to her. "He's here, I can feel it."
"We've got company," Asuma said to him. The monorail had started up again and left the station. It revealed a woman with an extremely creepy smile on the opposite side of the tracks. She quickly made her way over to the group.
"Hello, my name is Joo Dee," she introduced herself in a polite (but strange) way. "I have been given the great honor of showing the Avatar around Ba Sing Se. And you must be Sokka, Katara, Toph, Asuma, Ino, Shikamaru, Chōji, and Shù Yè." She looked at each one of them as she spoke.
Akela began to growl and bark at Joo Dee, like he was warning her to stay away from the group. "Akela, heel!" Sokka ordered, restraining the wolf just as he was about to attack Joo Dee. "Calm down, would ya? She hasn't done anything to us."
"Welcome to our wonderful city," she continued without missing a beat. "Shall we get started?"
"Shikamaru, can you take care of this?" Sokka asked as the shinobi as he held onto Akela. "My hands are kinda full here."
"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered before walking over to Joo Dee. "We have information that needs to be given to the Earth King, ASAP," he told her.
"Great, let's begin our tour and then I'll show you to your new home here," she said, seemingly ignoring what had just been said. "I think you'll like it." She started to walk away.
Sokka managed to calm Akela and then went after Joo Dee. "Maybe you missed what the guy said," he told her. "We need to talk to the king about the war, it's important."
"You're in Ba Sing Se now," she replied, with a little excessive amount of enthusiasm in her tone. "Everyone is safe here." The group looked at her, but they could do nothing except follow her to a carriage large enough to accommodate them all. They started off and began the "tour." "This is the Lower Ring," Joo Dee told them as they passed through it.
"What's that wall for?" Katara asked looking out the carriage window. She was looking at a wall that wasn't a part of the Inner Wall (they weren't even close to that wall). Instead, this wall seemed to block off the Lower Ring from the rest of the city.
"Oh, Ba Sing Se has many walls. There are the ones outside, protecting us and the ones inside that help maintain order," their guide told them. "This is where our newest arrivals live as well as our craftsmen and artisans, people who work with their hands. It's so quaint and lively."
"That's not what I'd call it," Shù Yè said as she and Katara looked out the window and looked at the people in the streets. "I'd call it the slums." They could all see it. The clothes people wore not their best. In fact, some of it looked like it was a collection of rags sewn together. There were beggars at practically every corner. In the alleyways, they saw men with weapons stare at the carriage with hostile eyes.
"Well…you'd do want to watch your step," Joo Dee agreed.
"That's putting it mildly," Asuma commented.
"Why do they have all the poor people blocked off in one part of the city?" Katara asked. It didn't seem right to her. They all belong to the same city. They shouldn't section people off because of how much money they had.
"This is why I never came here before," Aang said. "I always heard it was so different from the way the monks taught us to live." But that wasn't at the forefront of his mind. He looked out the window, thinking about Appa.
In a different part of the Lower Ring, Zuko was walking down a marketplace. He was soon joined by Iroh, who was holding a vase of flowers. "I just want our new place to look nice in case someone brings home a lady friend," he said after seeing Zuko's glare, giving him a nudge and a wink.
"This city is a prison," Zuko said with bleakness in his voice. "I don't want to make a life here." He could see the truth all around him. It was obvious to see. The people all around him were trapped here and now, he was too.
"Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not," Iroh told him, having a more upbeat attitude about their situation. "Now come on, I found us some new jobs and we start this afternoon."
They walked on, obvious of who was glaring at them. "Look at them, Firebenders living right under everyone's nose," Jet said with contempt. If he hadn't seen the tea, he would've missed them too.
"Jet, you saw a man with a hot cup of tea, it doesn't prove he's a Firebender," Smellerbee told him as she and Longshot came out of the alley. "And what if he is? Are we supposed to attack them? I thought we were starting over here, changing our ways."
"We are," He assured her. "When I get the evidence I need, I'll report them to the police and let them handle it. Okay?" He wasn't going to attack them outright. He would wait and watch.
"This is the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se. It is home to the financial district, shops and restaurants, and the university," Joo Dee told them as the carriage crossed over a bridge. They had left the Lower Ring by passing through the wall Katara had seen. The buildings they were now looking at were better maintained then the ones in the Lower Ring, but there was still some wear and tear on some of them.
Sokka heard the last part and tried to get his point across again. "Yeah, we met a professor from Ba Sing Se University. He took us to an ancient underground library where we discovered information about the war that is absolutely crucial for the Earth King to hear!" he told the guide.
She just smiled the creepy smile. "Isn't history fascinating? Look, here is one of the oldest buildings in the Middle Ring, the town hall on the far side of the city." The carriage stopped and she got out of the carriage.
"Okay, something's wrong with that woman," Sokka stated. "She only seems to hear every other word I say."
"It's called being handled," Toph told them. She knew from experience what that felt like. She had it with her parents. "Get used to it."
"This is becoming more troublesome than it's worth," Shikamaru stated. Akela just looked out the carriage to Joo Dee and snarled at her.
Jet stood outside a teashop, looking through the shutters. Inside the teashop were the two supposed Firebenders. "Well, you certainly look like official tea servers," the owner of the teashop told them. "How do you feel?"
"Ridiculous," Zuko answered. Both he and his uncle were wearing aprons. "If Azula could see me now, she would fall to the floor in laughter," he thought to himself.
Iroh struggled to tie the apron strings behind his back without much luck. "Uh…does this possibly come in a larger size?" he asked.
"I have extra string in the back," the owner told him as he poured two cups of tea. "Have some tea while you wait."
He left to go get the string, leaving the two with their tea. Zuko just scowled at his tea while Iroh drank his before making a disgusted sound. "This tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice!" he complained.
"Uncle, that's what all tea is," his nephew said in a long-suffering voice. They had this conversation before, days before the Avatar had shown himself to the world again.
"How could a member of my own family say something so horrible!?" demanded Iroh. "We'll have to make some major changes around here." He took hold of the teapot, walked over to one of the windows and threw out the tea.
Jet gave a small gasp and moved out of the way to avoid getting tea splashed on him. Figuring that if he stayed any longer, there was a good chance of getting caught, he disappeared into an alley.
"The Upper Ring is home to our most important citizens," Joo Dee told them as they passed lavish houses with giant lawns. It almost looked like something out of a dream. "Your house is not too far from here."
As they rode through the Upper Ring, the houses and estates disappeared, and they passed a large wall. "What's inside that wall?" Katara asked, looking out the carriage window. She could see the roof of a building beyond the wall, but nothing more than that. She could also see three men standing in a doorway, watching the carriage pass.
"And who are the mean looking guys in robes?" Sokka asked, seeing the same men.
"Inside is the Royal Palace," Joo Dee answered. "Those men are agents of the Dai Li, the cultural authority of Ba Sing Se. They are the guardians of all our traditions." She neglected to mention that the agents were watching the carriage like hawks as it went by.
"Can we go see the king now?" Aang asked. He was getting tired of all this. He wanted to get the information to the Earth King and then go look for Appa.
"Oh no, one doesn't just enter the palace to see the Earth King," she told him, making him feel like a child who asked a stupid question.
The members of Team Asuma all shared the same thought. "This is getting complicated." It was supposed to be a simple task. Get in, get to the Earth King, and deliver the information. But now, they knew they were being blocked and delayed.
Soon afterwards, the carriage stopped, and they got out. "Here we are your new home," Joo Dee said.
As the group looked at what appeared to be a modest looking house, with a simple designed interior, a courier ran and gave her a message. Ino was the first one to enter, followed by Katara, and Toph. Shikamaru and Choji waited until Asuma could join them inside. "More good news," Joo Dee told them after reading the message. "Your request for an audience with the Earth King is being processed and should be put through in about a month, much more quickly than usual."
"A month!?" repeated Sokka.
"Six to eight weeks actually," she clarified, giving them the creepy grin.
The group was silent until both Shù Yè and Ino broke it in unison. "WHAT?" they yelled at Joo Dee.
"There is no need to shout," she replied calmly. "Please, let us go inside." She ushered in the rest. Inside was spacious and there were pillows on the floor to sit on. "Isn't it nice? I think you'll really enjoy here."
"I think we'd enjoy it more if we weren't staying so long," Sokka told her. "Can't we see the king any sooner?"
"The Earth King is terribly busy running the finest city in the world. But he will see you as time permits."
Aang looked out a nearby window. "If we're going to be here for a month, we should spend our time looking for Appa," he spoke. Momo perked up when he heard those words. He missed the sky bison too.
"I'll be happy to escort you anywhere you'd like to go," she told the Avatar, bowing her head.
"No, you're staying here," Shikamaru told her. They needed to get information without her around.
"Yeah, we don't need a babysitter," Toph said, getting up from where she sat and headed for the door.
"Oh, I won't get in the way," Joo Dee said, moving to block the blind Earthbender's path. "And to leave you alone would make me a bad host. Where shall we start?"
They decided to start at a pet store. The minute they went in, Momo went straight for the feed only to be scared off by a cat owl, which then had a snarling match with Akela. "I'm sorry," the pet store owner said. "But I haven't heard anything about a flying bison. I didn't even know there were any."
"If someone wanted to sell a stolen animal without anyone knowing, why would they go?" Aang asked.
That question made Team Asuma looked at him with incredulous expressions. "Dear Kami, he actually doesn't have a clue!" they thought. It should've been obvious that he had to be a little subtle. But he just went out and said it!
"Where's the black market?" Sokka demanded, not being subtle as well. "Who runs it? C'mon, you know." He knew that the gaze of the shinobi had swung to him, but he didn't care. He wanted the information.
The owner started to sweat nervously when he saw Joo Dee shake her head. "That would be illegal," he finally answered. He noticed noise coming from the sides. "You'll have to leave now; your pets are causing a disturbance." Momo was trying to take the feed while waving off birds while Akela was still barking at the cat owl.
They left the pet store and decided to try the University. "Hm, I've never seen any Sandbenders or nomads around here," a student told them, sitting on a bench. "You should ask Professor Zei. He teaches the class on desert cultures."
"Well, we can't do that since he's still in the Library," Sokka thought to himself but aloud, he said. "Right and which of your professors could we ask about the war with the Fire Nation?"
The student grew nervous as he looked at Joo Dee, who again shook her head. This time, both Sokka and Shikamaru noticed it. They turned their heads to look at her, but she had already stopped moving her head. "I don't know. I'm not a political science student."
"It's not that hard a question," Shù Yè told him. "Just tell us who to talk to about the war."
"I…uh…I have to get to class!" The student leapt up from where he sat but tripped and dropped his scrolls. Picking them up quickly, he ran away from them.
At this point, Joo Dee had decided that was enough and had them driven back to their house. "Well, I'm sorry no one has seen your bison," she told them as they stood on the stairs. "Why don't you go get some rest? Someone will be over with dinner later." The carriage rolled away, leaving them alone. They noticed that a person in the house across from them was peeking out from his door. When he noticed that they noticed, he tried to hide.
"Hey, come with me," Sokka told everyone. They walked across to the other house and Sokka knocked on the door.
The man opened the door. "You're the Avatar! I heard you were in town. I'm Pong," He introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you, Pong," Aang greeted. The man sounded friendly enough, and a little nervous too.
"So, Pong, what's going on with this city?" Sokka asked. "Why is everyone here so scared to talk about the war?"
"War? Scared? What do you mean?" Pong asked as his eyes kept looking around.
"I can feel you shaking," Toph told him.
"It's not a good idea to lie right now," Chōji warned him. They would know if he was.
"Look, I'm just a minor government official," he told them in a whisper, like he was afraid someone was listening in. "I've waited three years to get this house. I don't want to get into trouble."
"Get into trouble with who?" Katara asked in a normal level of voice. She didn't see anything wrong around them.
"Shh," he said, a finger over his lips. "Listen, you can't mention the war here, and whatever you do, stay away from the Dai Li." He closed the door in their faces.
"…Well, that was weird," Shù Yè said as they went back into their own house. The sun had begun to set as they walked through the door. It had been a long day.
"Aside from that, something is going on in this city," Shikamaru stated. "That guide was pretty much blocking us the entire day."
"But we really can't do anything," Chōji pointed out. "We don't have any contacts here. We're literally on our own."
"That and we did a pretty bad job at interrogating people out there," Sokka admitted. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have been so blunt.
"Don't beat yourself up. You did okay for an amateur," Ino told him. "You just pressed them too soon." Once he got some experience, he would probably do fine.
Dinner soon came and they eat the meal slowly, thinking about what to do. They threw out suggestions, but nothing really seemed to work. Finally, they finished the meal. Aang, Katara, Toph and Shù Yè decided to go to bed, taking Momo and Akela with them and leaving Sokka with Team Asuma.
"Is there something you need, Sokka?" Asuma asked him.
"Actually, I've had a question that I wanted to ask since I first met you all in the swamp." It had been bugging him for the longest time.
"Why did you wait this long?" asked Ino.
"I had the feeling that if I asked the question in front of everyone, I would have caused some bad tension between us. Also, the answer that we got would also somehow cause both Katara and Aang to vehemently deny it," he told her.
"We wouldn't do that," Aang's voice came from behind the door leading to the bedrooms.
Both Team Asuma and Sokka glared at the door. "Aang, did the monks ever teach you that it was rude to eavesdrop?" the Tribesman asked aloud.
The door opened and the Air Nomad walked in with a sheepish expression on his face. "Sorry, but I was curious about why Sokka wanted to talk to you guys."
"Are you still going to ask us?" Chōji asked Sokka, curious to know what he was going to say.
The Water Paragon sighed. "Might as well, it'd probably be better this way." He took a deep breath. "Who are Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke?"
Team Asuma grew silent for a few minutes before Asuma spoke. "Kakashi Hatake, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha are all members of Team Kakashi, of which Naruto is a former member," he said, answering the question.
"Why aren't they here?" Aang asked. If they knew the blonde, he would've thought they would be the best in protecting him and his friends. "I thought they would be happy to jump at an opportunity to look for him."
"I think only Guy-sensei knew that answer," Shikamaru answered. "That's the question I asked him after Kouzan . According to Guy-sensei, it was Lady Tsunade who decided not to bring in Team Kakashi, because of personal feelings."
"Oh, I see," Asuma said. Suddenly, it made a lot of sense. He could see why she would not let them come.
"They hate Naruto that much?" Aang asked with surprise.
That question caused Team Asuma to snort in disbelief. "Hate him? It's Team Kakashi that wants him back the most!" Chōji told the Airbender.
"…How far would they go to get him back?" Sokka asked. He had a bad feeling that he wasn't going to like the answer.
"If there was a choice between saving your lives and going after Naruto, they would leave you for dead in a heartbeat," Shikamaru stated with absolute bluntness. He had heard about the lengths they had gone to look for the blonde as well as the injuries they had inflicted on the people who insulted him.
Aang had an expression of horror on his face when he heard those words. "No one would do that!" he protested. "No one would leave people to die just so they could try and find one person!"
"I rest my case," Sokka said. He knew that those words or some variation of them would be spoken if Aang or Katara were. That was why he didn't want them to be there when he asked the question.
Asuma looked at Aang. "Yes, they would, Aang," he told the Air Nomad. "They want Naruto back in Konoha and they are willing to do anything to make it happened. If they had to kill you to find him, you would be dead before you realize it."
If it was even possible, Aang grew more horrified. "But I…I am the Avatar. They…they wouldn't kill me," he protested weakly. That would've gone against their mission orders, right?
"They wouldn't care if you were Kami herself," Shikamaru told him, continuing to be blunt. "If killing you was a way to get to Naruto, your successor would be the one to defeat the Fire Lord."
The room was silent until Sokka finally broke it. "Perhaps it's best we all get some sleep." Everyone agreed with what he suggested and went to their separate bedrooms. But the conversation still haunted Aang throughout the night, even when he did fall asleep.
Jet crouched behind a laundry line, watching Zuko and Iroh in their apartment. "Would you like a pot of tea?" Iroh asked his nephew.
"We've been working in a teashop all day," Zuko told him. "I'm sick of tea!"
"Sick of tea!?" repeated Iroh. "That's like being sick of breathing!" He looked through the cupboards, looking for something. "Have you seen our spark rocks to heat up the water?"
"They're not there," Jet said to himself, his hand holding the same spark rocks Iroh was looking for. "You'll have to Firebend, old man." He then noticed that Iroh was leaving the apartment. "Where are you going?"
His answer was given when Iroh came back in. "I borrowed our neighbor's. Such kind people," he told Zuko. With two strikes of the spark rocks, the fire was litand the tea was boiling.
"Damn!" Jet swore to himself as he left. "I thought that would work."
The morning was up and going, as evident by the birds singing. Katara yawned as she walked outside the door. She grabbed the newspaper that was in the front basket, read it and gave a gasp of excitement. She ran back into the house. "I've got it!" she declared. "I know how we're going to see the Earth King."
"How are we supposed to do that? One doesn't just pop in on the Earth King," Toph asked, mimicking Joo Dee from where she sat.
"Speaking of her, we also have to figure what to do with her," Shikamaru added from where he lay on the ground. There had been the suggestion of killing her, but they discarded it in the end.
"The king is having a party at the palace for his pet bear," Katara told them.
"You mean platypus-bear?" Aang asked her from the bannister.
"No, it just says bear."
"Certainlyyou mean his pet skunk-bear," Sokka said from where he laid upside down against the wall. Akela had a look of distaste when he heard the skunk-bear part.
"Or his armadillo-bear," Toph said.
"Gopher-bear?" asked Aang.
"Just…bear," the Waterbender repeated herself.
"This place is weird," Toph stated after a moment of silence. Who had ever heard of just a bear?
"What's weird about that?" Shù Yè asked from where she lounged near the staircase. "I know what a bear is." Everyone (except for the shinobi) looked at her with disbelief. "I spent a winter with a mother bear and her cub when I was five."
She saw the disbelief turn into curiosity and knew she had to explain. "I got kicked out of the house for the season and was left to fend for myself. I ended up in the forest and collapse in a cave. When I came to, I was sleeping next to a bear cub and the mother." She smiled sadly at the memory. "After that winter, they had left and I never saw them again. There are days when I miss that cub. He had this little patch of white fur on his left ear that was shaped like a star. We would always roughhouse when we weren't sleeping or eating."
"Could we get back to the main subject here?" Katara asked them, excited about her plan. "The palace will be packed. We can sneak in with the crowd."
"Won't work," Toph declared as she kicked back and relaxed.
"Why not?" asked the Waterbender. It was the perfect plan.
"Well, no offense to you simple country folk, but a real society crowd would spot you a mile away. You've got no manners," the blind Earthbender told her, picking up a pastry and munching on it loudly.
"Excuse me? I've got no manners?" she asked, offended. "You're not exactly Lady Fancy Fingers."
"Also, we were taught manners!" Ino said, gesturing to herself and her teammates. She was offended by the fact that Toph made it sound like she had no manners.
"Her idea of manners is probably different than ours," Shikamaru pointed out to his teammate. She frowned at him, but silently conceded the point.
Toph burped and tossed the pastry away. "I learned proper society behavior and chose to leave it," she explained. "You never learned anything and frankly, it's a little too late."
"But you learned it, so you could teach us!" Aang said, getting an idea in his head. "I'm mastering every element; how hard can manners be?" He leapt from the bannister, grabbed a nearby drape, and put on like a cloak. "Good evening, Paragon Sokka, Miss. Katara Water Tribe, Mr. Sarutobi, Miss. Yamanaka, Mr. Nara, Mr. Akimichi, Chief Akela of the White Wolves clan, Lord Momo of the Momo dynasty, your Momo-ness," he said in what he thought was a civilized voice, bowing to everyone. He kept bowing until he accidently hit Sokka on the head as the Tribesman was standing up. The two of them fell to the ground in a heap.
"Katara and Shù Yè might be able to pull it off," Toph noted as she stood up and walked over to where they were. "But you two would be lucky to pass as busboys."
"No," Sokka said as he untangled himself from Aang. "Shù Yè stays here."
Before anyone (Katara or Aang) could tell him to stop being paranoid, Shù Yè spoke up. "Oh, trust me, ice-chewer. I wasn't planning on going. I don't think I would really fit in, and besides…" She gestured (almost shyly) to her chest. "Once they start talking about these, I'll be a wreck."
"We'll stay here as well," Asuma said, joining the conversation. "We'll keep an eye on Shù Yè and make sure that we're safe."
"Then let's get to work," Toph said.
The rest of the day was spent on shopping and getting ready (the last part Katara and Toph had disappeared into a room alone for). Aang and Sokka started to play a variation on Rock-Paper-Scissors, Asuma was writing up a mission report and Shù Yè was talking to Shikamaru, Ino and Chōji. Akela was taking a nap while Momo sat by.
Finally, the door to the room where Katara and Toph had disappeared to opened to reveal Toph and Katara all dressed up. They held the pose for a few seconds before giggling. "Wow, you look beautiful," Aang told Katara as he blushed.
Katara was about to respond but was stopped when Toph put her fan in front of her face. "First rule when interacting in a high-class society, Katara: never talk to commoners, unless you're asking for something," she told her.
They started to walk to the door. "We'll get in the party and then find a way to let you through the side gate," Katara said to them.
"Just be careful in there and for Kami's sake, don't blow your cover," Asuma warned them.
"Got it," Toph said. The two left, leaving everyone else in the house. Had they stayed a little longer, they would have seen Momo walking across the floor, wearing a curtain like a cape.
Jet stood in an alleyway across from the teashop and watched as one of the city guards went into the shop. "Jet!" called out Smellerbee as she and Longshot joined him. "We need to talk."
"What? Oh great, it's you guys," he said when he saw them. "Where've you been? I could use some help with surveillance here."
"Look, Jet. We've been talking and we think you're becoming obsessed with this. It's not healthy," she told him.
"Oh, really? You both think this?" He looked over at the archer in their group.
Longshot simply put his hand on Smellerbee's shoulder, showing his agreement. "We came here to make a fresh start," Smellerbee told him. "But you won't let this go, even though there's no proof!"
"Well, maybe if you'd help me!" If they helped, he could find the proof he needed.
"Jet, you've gotta stop this."
"Maybe you've forgotten why we need to start over. Maybe you've forgotten about how the Fire Nation left us all homeless. How they wiped out all the people we loved." As he talked, Smellerbee and Longshot looked down at the ground as they remembered. "If you don't want to help us, I'll get the evidence on our own."
Zuko was serving the tea while Iroh poured it. "This is the best tea in the city!" one of the customers, an off-duty guard, declared.
"The secret ingredient is love," Iroh told them as he gestured his arms, like he is hugging the tea (or at least, the steam of the tea).
As he walked away, Zuko gave him a look. "If tea was power, Uncle would rule the world," he thought to himself as he continued to serve the tea.
Looking at how many people were in his shop, the owner looked over at Iroh. "I think you're due for a raise," he said in praise.
The shop's door slammed open and Jet stormed in. "I'm tired of waiting. These two men are Firebenders!" he shouted pointed at Zuko and Iroh, who shared a look as he drew his hook swords. "I know they're Firebenders, I saw the old man heating his tea!"
"Agni! He did see it!" Zuko swore to himself, glaring quickly at his uncle. Iroh managed to look sheepish and apologetic at the same time with his expression.
The two off-duty guards looked at each other and then back at Jet. "He works in a teashop," the one with Dao swords said, like it was the most obvious thing.
"He's a Firebender, I'm telling you!" Jet shouted.
The guards stood up. "Drop your swords boy, nice and easy."
Jet didn't listen. He just started to walk towards the accused. "You'll have to defend yourself. Then everyone will know," he told Iroh. "Go ahead; show them what you can do."
Zuko took that as an invitation. "No one threatens my uncle when I'm right here!" He walked forward and grabbed the guard's Dao swords, drawing them out of the sheath. "You want a show? I'll give you a show!" He tested Jet's reaction time by hooking his leg behind a table leg and pushing the entire table at the Freedom Fighter.
Jet sliced the table apart and then jumped over it. When he landed, he swung at Zuko, making him jump backwards onto a table. Jet cut the table in half and when Zuko stayed on one side of the table, balancing on one foot, he sliced off the table legs.
Zuko leapt high in the air before coming back down and swing his borrowed swords at Jet's feet. Jet flipped backwards to avoid the strike. He landed on his feet and charged Zuko again. The two of them swung their swords at each other, continuing the fight.
There was a line already lined up in front of the palace. Katara and Toph walked up to the guard who was checking the line. "Invitation please," he said.
"I think this will do," Toph said, holding up the Beifong seal.
The guard wasn't impressed with what he saw. "No entry without an invitation," he told her. "Step out of line, please."
"Look, the Pangs and the Yum Soon Hans are waiting in there for us!" she replied, putting the seal away. "I'm going to have to tell them who didn't let me in."
"Step out of line please," the guard repeated, pointing his finger.
The two of them did so. They saw a carriage coming up to the entrance. A man got out of the carriage and began walking to the entrance. When Katara saw nearby guards bowing to the man, she got an idea. She grabbed Toph and made her way over to the man. "Sir," she began. "I'm sorry to bother you but my cousin lost our invitations. She's blind," she whispered the last part before speaking normally. "Do you think you could help us? Our family's inside and I'm sure they're very worried."
His eyes gazed over them before a warm smile. "I am honored," he said with a small bow of his head.
"Is something the matter?" a quiet voice (almost horse if someone felt nasty) asked from behind them.
The man turned and Katara and Toph saw who was talking. Behind the man stood three people that were about the same age as Ino, Shikamaru and Chōji. The one who had spoken stood in the middle. He had red hair and light green eyes, almost the same color Toph's eyes had. He wore a crimson coat. When the wind blew, it was shown that he wore dark pants with a pair of laces on each leg, one below the waist and the other beneath the knee. He wore a couple of buckled belts and a grey vest with one strap over his left shoulder. He had a gourd strapped to his back that was held by the vest and the belts. However, the two things that attracted their attention was the fact that his eyes were surrounded by black rings and he had a symbol the color of blood on his forehead above his left eye.
The person on the right of the first person was a young woman. She had green eyes and blonde hair (darker than Ino's) which was tied into four separate ponytails. She wore a black short sleeved kimono that had slits along the sides. She also wore black fingerless gloves and a red sash around her waist. She had what appeared to be some sort of iron club on her back.
The third person was a young man. What he wore was simple enough. He wore black trousers and a black top with long sleeves, also with a red sash around his waist. He wore a black hood that cover his head and looked like it had cat ears. What was truly odd about him was the fact he wore face paint. It was purple and he had drawn it across his eyes, from cheek to cheek and from the upper lip to his chin.
What caught their attention was the headband the woman wore and the hood the second man wore. Both the headband and the hood had the same kind of metal plate the Konoha shinobi had, but the symbol was not a leaf. Instead, it showed a symbol of an hourglass figure with a thin rectangle above it. "Not at all," the man Katara had spoken to said. "These two girls lost their invitations and have family waiting inside. They had asked for my help."
"Very well," the red-haired teenager spoke, like he was approving of what was happening.
"Let's get inside. People will start looking if we stay here," the woman said. She kept looking around, like she was expecting an ambush.
"Follow me, please," the man told them. He walked up to the guard, who bowed to him and let him pass. Katara and Toph were tempted to blow raspberries at the guard as they passed, but a simple look from the red-haired man discouraged them.
Inside the palace ballroom, people stood together in groups and made small talk. In the center of the room was a long table and at the end of the table sat a big, brown bear. The bear was eating everything in front of him, much to the disgust of the two men sitting beside the bear.
"He's taking all the good stuff!" the older man complained, wincing at the bear's eating habits.
"Quiet! You don't know what I had to do to get seats this near the bear!" the younger man hissed. The bear had then smacked away the food in front of him and leapt for the roasted meal in front of him, eating like an animal.
A waiter came by with some food. "Excuse me, sirs," he told the two men. "But the Earth King wanted the bear near the best food. If you'll excuse me…" He held the food under the bear's nose, getting his attention. Slowly, the waiter forced the bear back to the end of the table where his seat was by using the food's delicious smell.
Once the bear was seated, the food was placed in front of him. "Here you are, sir," the waiter told the bear. "The Earth King wants the catering staff to tell you to mind your manners. So please be careful about how you eat. You wouldn't want the Earth King to be mad at you, would you?" The bear seemed to understand what he was saying, because he nodded and then eat the food in front of him with a little more care. The waiter walked away to continue his job.
At the entrance, Katara and Toph had arrived with the man and the three others. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" the man asked the group. "By the way, I'm Long Feng. I'm a cultural minister to the king," he introduced himself to Katara and Toph.
"I'm Kwa Mai," Katara introduced herself. "And this is…Dum." Gesturing to Toph, who yanked on a string attached to Katara's headdress, making her wince in pain.
"Now where is your family? I'd love to meet them." He looked around, trying to see if he could spot them.
Katara took a quick look around, suddenly nervous. "Uh…I don't see them right now. But I'm sure we'll find them soon." She grabbed Toph and started to walk away. "Thanks for all your help."
When they looked away, he suddenly appeared in front of them. "Don't worry. As your escort, it would be dishonorable to abandon you ladies without finding your family first. We'll keep looking."
Katara and Toph were in a pinch. They tried to think of a way out when the red-haired teenager spoke up. "Perhaps they don't wish to appear incompetent to their family. Losing their invitations would qualify as incompetence," he said.
Katara nodded in agreement, latching on to what he said. "Truth be told, sir," she said to Long Feng, "this is our first party where we were going to be treated as adults. That's why we were alone outside. If our parents discovered that we had lost our invitations, they'll say that we're still too immature for these kinds of parties."
"No kid wants to appear like that in front of their parents," the face-painted man said, sounding like he knew what that was like.
"I understand but I still must help you find them," Long Feng said. "We will simply tell your parents that you ran into me and we began to have a conversation." He continued walking in front of them and they followed.
Aang, Momo and Sokka hid behind a lion statue, watching a side entrance. "Where are they?" Aang asked, as he and Sokka peeked out to look at the entrance. Katara and Toph should've gotten there by now.
"I don't know," Sokka said as they went back behind the statue. "They might have been held up. We need to improvise."
"What about them?" he asked, looking at a group of busboys. "Toph said we could pass as busboys."
"Sounds like a plan," the Tribesman agreed. "We just have to be careful."
The door to the teashop shattered as Zuko went through it. "That was a kick I didn't expect," he thought as he landed in the street. His opponent had managed to surprise him by kicking him hard in the chest, which sent him flying to the door.
Jet went after him and swung his hook blades at him. he managed blocked them using the hilts to stop them from getting closer. "You must be tried of using those swords. Why don't you go ahead and Firebend at me?" asked Jet, trying to get to lose his temper.
"Does this rock-headed idiot realize he's fighting a Dao blades master!?" He had been trained by Piandao! He knew how to handle swords!
"Please, son, you're confused!" Iroh shouted from the doorway as the two broke the hold they were in and fought in the streets. "You don't know what you're doing!"
"Bet you wish he'd help you out with a little fire blast right now," Jet told Zuko, hooking the ends of his swords together and swinging them around like a flail. He pushed Zuko back until the Dao sword wielder used one of his swords to stop the flail-like attacks, trapping it in the pavement.
"You're the one who needs help!" Zuko told him. Both letting go of their respective stuck swords, Jet tried to attack but pulled it back as Zuko advanced, swinging at his head. He bent backwards to avoid the sword strike, the piece of wheat in his mouth chopped in half.
He quickly regained his balance and leapt back to a nearby well. "You see that!?" He called out to the people who were nearby. "The Fire Nation is trying to silence me. It'll never happen!" Using his remaining hook sword as momentum and the well's wooden beam as an anchor, he swung himself at Zuko into a flying kick, starting the fight up again.
Both Sokka and Aang had managed to get into the party as busboys (with Momo hiding under Aang's hat). The Air Nomad was pouring drinks when he heard a voice behind him. "Hey, you with the pitcher," the voice called out. He turned around and saw the man with face paint. "Fill her up." He held out a cup.
Aang wordlessly pour a drink. The man took a sip, nodded in appreciation, and walked away. Sokka soon walked past with a tray of food. "Where are Toph and Katara?" the Airbender asked in a low voice.
"I don't know. I haven't seen them," Sokka replied. "Ah! I wish Shikamaru or Ino were here. They'd be great at helping us find the Earth King." They knew how to do this kind of stuff.
"But they'd have more trouble fitting in then us," Aang replied, reminding him. "They said so themselves."
"Yeah, I know. Just keep looking for the Earth King."
"I don't know what he looks like."
Momo's tail began to wave in front of Sokka's face. "You know, royal, flowing robe, fancy jewelry," he said as he grabbed the tail tightly and pulled it back down, making Aang's hat squirm.
"That could be anyone," Aang said as he looked out to the crowd. He saw a lot of people, but he didn't anyone who looked like the Earth King.
"Another crab puff, please," Toph asked, standing next to them.
"You found us!" he exclaimed as Sokka served a cream puff.
"I'd know your little footsteps anywhere, Twinkle Toes," she told him, making him blush.
"Thanks for letting us in," Sokka said to his sister with obvious sarcasm as she joined them.
"Sorry, but the guy who escorted us won't let us out of his sight!" she told him.
"What guy?" They both looked around, but Long Feng had disappeared.
"Excuse me," the blonde-haired woman said as she stood next to Sokka. "A crab puff, please." Sokka extended the tray towards her and she took one. "Thanks," she said before walking away.
"Have you guys seen the king?" Sokka asked the girls.
"No, we haven't," Katara said, shaking her head
He gave an irritated sigh. "Next time, we bring Team Asuma with us," he declared. They knew this kind of stuff.
That was when Joo Dee showed up. "What are you doing here?" she demanded, the creepy smile not on her face for once. "You need to leave immediately, or we'll all be in terrible trouble!"
She tried to push Sokka away,but he used the tray as a shield, spilling the crab puffs. "Not until we see the king," he told her. They were going to see him, no matter what.
"You don't understand. You must go!" She pushed Sokka onto Aang, who spilt the pitcher he was carrying onto a guest who screamed in surprise.
She looked over to who had spilled the drink on her, her makeup ruined. "Sorry," Aang apologized. "No, don't shout!" He dried her without thinking using Airbending, making his hat fly off. The result for the guest was a rather…spiky outfit and hairstyle. Seeing what happened, Sokka groaned quietly.
Oddly (or predictably) enough, her reaction was something else. "The Avatar!" was what she said. "Oh, I didn't know the Avatar would be here!" When she said that, she got everyone's attention and a small crowd had circled around him. This made a revealed Momo go for the hat on the floor and scurry away. Meanwhile, the smile on Joo Dee's face had melted away, replaced with a look of dread.
He gave a nervous grin and waved to the people around him. For some reason, Toph and Katara had disappeared. "You keep their attention while I look for the king," Sokka whispered into his ear. They might as well use it to their attention.
"Watch this, everybody!" he called out as the Tribesman moved away. He leapt out of his busboy uniform and high into the air. He landed on the table and by bending the drinks out of people's cups, put on a show with multi-colored drinks. Impressed and awed, the people clapped at the show. Even the bear approved.
"Hey look, dinner and a show," the man with face paint noted as he and the other stood against the wall. He then looked over at the bear. "Is anyone else besides me wondering what a bear is doing in a ballroom?"
"No, we're just wondering why you haven't shut up yet," the woman replied, making him scowl.
"Enough," the red-haired teenager told them both quietly. They didn't say anything else.
The swordfight between Zuko and Jet raged on. The fight was attracting a crowd. Somehow, the two of them ended up back-to-back. But that didn't stop them. They just kept swinging at each other from the sides, trying to get to the opponent behind them.
Before things could continue, two Dai Li agents had appeared from the crowd. "Drop your weapons!" one agent ordered, getting everyone's attention.
The swordsmen broke apart. "Arrest them!" Jet told the Dai Li. "They're Firebenders!"
"This poor boy is confused," Iroh told the agents. "We're just simple refugees."
"This young man wrecked my teashop and assaulted my employees!" the teashop owner said, pointing at Jet angrily.
"It's true, sir, we saw the whole thing," one of the off-duty guards supplied. "This crazy kid attacked the finest tea maker in the city."
Iroh blushed. "Oh, that's very sweet."
The Dai Li agents walked up to behind Jet. "Come with us, son," the second one told him. He swung his sword at one of them but was quickly disarmed. The two agents forced Jet's hands behind his back and put him into handcuffs made from the stones of their rock gloves.
"You don't understand," Jet yelled at them as they dragged him away. "They're Fire Nation! You have to believe me." He was put into the carriage and rode off. Amongst the crowd, Smellerbee and Longshot quickly walked.
Zuko turned back to the off-duty guard from whom he had taken the Dao swords from. "Sorry about that," he said, handing the swords back and leaving with Iroh. Just as he left, he thought he saw someone with blonde hair in the crowd. But he blinked and the person was gone.
A gong sounded as the Earth King was carried in a large, curtained palanquin, along with guards. Sokka got closer to the front of the crowd to make sure it was the man they were looking for. The palanquin was put down and a line of guards stood in front of it. "Aang!" called out Sokka. "The Earth King!"
Now was their chance. Aang was still putting on a show, this time with multi-colored bubbles and with the bear trying to grab them. Turning around and letting the bubbles disappear, he bent an Air Scooter and rode it down the length of the table, making Sokka groaned quietly. "Not like that!" he thought.
"Greetings, Your Majesty!" the Air Nomad called out. As he flew by, people grabbed their food and drinks and pull them out of the way.
The curtained palanquin was picked up and quickly walked out of the ballroom while a line of guards stood at the end of the table. Noticing that the Earth King was leaving, Sokka broke through the crowd and went after the palanquin. As he moved, his eyes went back to the crowd and what he saw made him freeze. Naruto himself, in formal clothing, was just standing there in the crowd. When the blonde saw his gaze, he smiled and gave a little wave. Two Dai Li agents grabbed the Tribesman at that point and took him out of the room. The same happened to Toph, Katara, and Momo.
Aang reached the end of the table and made a dismount but it wasn't the Earth King that greeted him, it was the man who escorted Katara and Toph. "Avatar, it is a great honor to meet you," he said. "I am Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se and head of the Dai Li. I would like to talk to you. Your friends will be waiting for in the library." He walked away. Aang got off the table and followed.
Neither one noticed that three people also left the ballroom and who were also discreetly following them.
The door to the library slammed shut, making it dark except for a pair of lights at the door and a heath behind Long Feng, which burned green fire. "Why won't you let us talk to the King!?" Sokka demanded, out of his busboy uniform. "We have information that could defeat the Fire Nation!"
"The Earth King has no time to get involved with political squabbles and the day-to-day minutia of military activities," Long Feng told them, sitting down in front of them.
"This could be the most important thing he's ever heard," Aang said. They had an advantage over the Fire Nation!
"What's most important to his Royal Majesty is maintaining the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se." He placed emphasis on the word 'cultural.' "All his duties relate to issuing royal decrees on such matters. It's my job to oversee the rest of the city's resources, including the military."
"So, the king is just a figurehead," Katara said, realizing what that meant.
"He's your puppet!" Toph accused the man.
"Oh no, no," said Long Feng, rising his hands in defense. "His Majesty is an icon, a god to his people. He can't sully his hands with the hourly changes of an endless war."
"But we found out about a solar eclipse that will leave the Fire Nation defenseless," Sokka told him, hoping he'd listen. "You could lead an invasion—"
"Enough!" He cut him off. "I don't want to hear your ridiculous plan. It is the strict policy of Ba Sing Se that the war is not mentioned within the walls. Constant news of an escalating war will throw the citizens of Ba Sing Se into a state of panic. Our economy would be ruined. Our peaceful way of life, our traditions would disappear. In silencing talk of conflict, Ba Sing Se remains a peaceful, orderly utopia. The last one on this planet."
"You can't keep the truth from all these people," Katara told Long Feng. "They have to know."
"I'll tell them!" Aang declared, angry with the man and what he said. "I'll make sure everyone knows!"
Long Feng walked up to Aang. "Until now, you've been treated as our honored guest." He bowed down to look Aang in the eye. "But from now on, you will be watched every moment by Dai Li agents. If you mention the war to anyone, you'll be expelled from the city." He walked back to the heath. "I understand you've been looking for your bison. It would be quite a shame if you were not able to complete your quest."
Aang scowled at him. It was blatant blackmail and everyone there knew it.
"Now, Joo Dee will show you home," he said. The door to the library opened, a woman walked in and stood in front of Team Avatar.
"Come with me, please," she said to them.
The group looked at the woman. "What happened to Joo Dee?" Katara asked with both surprise and fear.
"I'm Joo Dee," the woman answered, she wore the same uniform as the first Joo Dee. But it was a different woman, evident by her face and hair. But she wore the same creepy grin. "I'll be your host as long as you're in our wonderful city."
Long Feng went for the door. "If you'll excuse me, I've neglected my duties as a host long enough," he told them. "I have guests to entertain."
"That will no longer be required." The red-haired teenager's voice rang out in the library. He and the other two stepped out of a darkened corner,.
The thought that both Team Avatar and Long Feng had was "How did they get in?"
"How long have you been there!?" Long Feng demanded.
"Since the beginning," the teenager said, staring at the man with cold eyes.
"That's impossible. My agents would have noticed your presence."
The man wearing face paint smirked. He raised his right hand and wiggled his fingers. Dai Li agents flew from the walls and the ceiling and landed in a pile in front of Long Feng, their necks all clearly broken. "You mean these guys?" he asked.
"Or do you mean the ones outside the door," the woman asked, pointing. Everyone (minus Joo Dee 2.0, who just stood there in a pile of bodies, smiling) looked towards the opened door and saw the headless bodies of more Dai Li agents.
"How did you…?" Long Feng tried to ask, stunned that Dai Li agents were so effortlessly killed.
"It is always wise to never underestimate a foe," the teenager told him. "We have heard your ways of how you run this city. If you wish to wallow in ignorance, we will not stop you." His gaze hardened. "But we will put our lives into your hands if you choose to do so. I will not trust a man who controls a city through fear and denial."
Long Feng snorted in derision. "And where will you go? You cannot leave this city unless I allow it. I could make you rot in the dungeons." He smiled what he thought was a dangerous smile.
The teenager narrowed and that was when Team Avatar saw something amazing happen. The cork on the gourd he wore popped off and sand flew out of it! The sand flew over to Long Feng, wrapped itself around his neck, and lifted him up into the air. It brought him back towards the teenager, holding the Grand Secretariat in front of him.
"You would do well to watch how you insult people," he told Long Feng. "It would be so easy for me to snap your neck." The sand tightened around his neck, making him start to choke. "But I will not." The sand released him, sending him crashing to the ground. "As for your question, we will go with the Avatar."
"Me?" Aang repeated, surprised by the words.
The teenager nodded. He and the others walked over to Team Avatar. "We should leave now," the man wearing face paint said. "Otherwise, things might get nasty."
"Agreed," Sokka said.
They were about to leave when Long Feng spoke. "Why did you spare me?" he asked the teenager.
"You bore me," he answered without looking back at him. "There is no challenge in fighting a rat who desperately wants power." With that insult said, they left the library and the Royal Palace.
"Who are you guys?" Toph asked as they made their way back to the house. It was a long walk, and they didn't have the carriage. But they wanted to get out of there, so they made it count.
"The people who pulled your rear ends out of the fire," the man with face paint answered, like it was completely obvious. "That's who we are."
"That's not an answer!" Toph declared. The people (few as there were) on the street looked at her when she shouted, but she ignored them.
"And your point is what, exactly?"
"Will you knock it off?" the woman said to him, completely exasperated by what he was doing.
"We are friends of friends," the teenager told Toph, his quiet voice somehow filling the air around them. "That is who we are."
"That's even more cryptic," Katara said.
"But the truth, nonetheless." The rest of the walk was silent as no one else had anything to say. The sky was dark, and the stars seemed barely visible against the lights the city had lit.
The walk finally ended at their destination. "We're here," Sokka announced as they stood in front of the house. He walked in and saw that Team Asuma and Shù Yè were still up.
"So, how did the mission to talk to the Earth King go?" Ino asked him as the others came in behind him.
"We botched it, thoroughly and utterly botched it," he answered. Akela padded over to him, pressing his weight to the Tribesman's side.
"It couldn't have gone that bad," Shù Yè said.
"Well, we did learn that if we are going to do something like this again, Aang's not coming," he stated with absolute surety.
"Hey!" Aang protested as he walked by. "It wasn't my fault!"
"You blew our cover so badly that there was no way we could about it and because of that, we had to improvise," the Water Paragon told him.
"I panicked!" he protested. "Besides, you were the one who made spill the pitcher."
"You blow-dried that lady with Airbending, ruining our cover. You should've gotten her a towel! And then you just went right up to the Earth King, scaring him away!" The two of them scowled at each other before Aang finally looked away.
"We did learn something else," Toph said as she sat down on the floor. "We learned that the Earth King is a puppet. The real power is with Long Feng and the Dai Li." She started to take the stuff in her hair out. She felt like a doll and she hated it.
"On the upside, we made some new friends," Katara said as she did the same. She looked back outside the door and that the people she was talking about were still outside. "Aren't you going to come in?" She asked.
The three people entered the house. When they saw who it was, Team Asuma immediately stood up from where they sat. "Lord Kazekage," Asuma said to the teenager, bowing.
"I am not your Kage. You need not bow to me., he replied, gesturing silently for them to stop.
"Hey, little boy," the woman said to Shikamaru. "How have you been?"
"Hello to you too, troublesome woman," he replied, a small (almost tiny) smile forming on his lips as he spoke.
"Wait, you guys know each other?" Aang asked, looking back and forth between the two groups.
"Well, we did say we were friends of friends," the man with face paint said with a grin.
"Hang on, time out!" Shù Yè said, raising her hand, getting everyone's attention. "Could we get some names, please?" she asked them.
"Of course," the teenager agreed. "Long Feng never actually introduced us."
"Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Shù Yè," Asuma began. "This is the Godaime Kazekage, Gaara no Sabaku. The lady is his sister, Temari. and the man is his brother, Kankurō. They are shinobi who are from Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand."
"Is the Kazekage anything like the Hokage?" Sokka asked. It sounded familiar, but he wanted to be sure.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered to himself. "The Kazekage is the leader of Suna, just like the Hokage is the leader of Konoha."
"You're a Kage!?" Katara asked. "But you're their age!" She gestured to Shikamaru, Ino, and Chōji. She never would've thought a leader of shinobi would be so…young.
"It doesn't mean he can't be one, lady," Kankurō told her, protective of his little brother.
"Sorry," she apologized. 'It's just surprising. Normally, a leader would be a matured adult."
"You have nothing to apologize for," Gaara told her. That was not the first time he had gotten such a reaction (he had gotten one from Long Feng earlier that day).
Sokka looked at both Team Asuma and the siblings and noticed they were attempting to have a silent conversation. "Hey, I think that after all we've been through tonight, it's probably best if we go to bed," He told Aang, Katara, and Toph.
"Sounds like a good idea to me too," Shù Yè agreed, trying to stifle a yawn. She was tired, but she wanted to know what had happened. The others agreed to the idea as well. They went to the bedrooms with Akela and Momo.
Once Team Asuma made sure they were all asleep, both they and the Sand Siblings sat down at the table in the main room. "First things first," Asuma said. "What are you three doing in the Bending Countries?" he asked the Sand Siblings.
"The council thought that it would be best if I took a vacation," Gaara answered.
"What happened?" Ino asked. A Kage doesn't usually take a vacation, not unless they had been injured or something along those lines.
"An incident," Temari answered. "That's all." What had happened was something the Konoha shinobi needed to know right now.
"How troublesome," Shikamaru groaned. "We need to exchange information."
"Agreed," Gaara replied.
"Then let's start with this," Asuma said. "Naruto Uzumaki has been living in these Countries for the past three years and is now currently our enemy." That got the Sand Siblings' attention.
End
Author's note: Thanks for the reviews you've sent me.
Yes, the Sand Siblings are in town. Now before you start saying that I had killed off Gaara earlier, I would like to remind you that I had told you to remember how he actually died. He died after the Akatsuki extracted Shukaku from him and was revived by Chiyo at the cost of her own life. I plan to write about that while Gaara is in the story, plus some other things.
Now I'm going to say this right here and now: I'm skipping Tales of Ba Sing Se and Appa's Lost Days. The reason I'm skipping the first one is because it's pointless for this story. Besides, if I did do that, I'd also have to write a tale of Shikamaru, of Ino, of Asuma, of Chōji, of Shù Yè, of Gaara, of Temari, of Kankurō and of Naruto (if need be). That's too much of a headache there, so sorry but not happening.
The reason I'm skipping the second one is the same thing. It's pointless for this story.
Now I'm sure there are some of you who I'm bashing Aang at the end but I'm not. Let's face it, he did literally blow their cover and did it spectacularly too.
I'll see you all next chapter!