Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.

Bodyguard of Azula

Chapter 61: New Place and Impromptu Lessons

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Bijū/spirit talking"

"Bijū/spirit thinking"

(Location: Team Paragon)

They had arrived in Kumo just a few scant hours ago and were settling into their rooms at the hotel when someone knocked on the door. When Jiraiya went to open it, they found a Kumo shinobi standing outside. "Can I help you?" The Toad Sage asked him.

"Are you the team from Konoha?" He asked in return.

"Yes."

"Lord Raikage wants to see you immediately."

"Right now?" asked Sokka. "We just got here." The last day of traveling was spent hiking up the mountains surrounding the Hidden Village. During the hike, he began to really feel that Appa and the days of flying past the mountains were gone (which made him miss them even more).

"Those are his orders." The Kumo shinobi told him with an almost uncaring tone of voice. The Tribesman almost wanted to punch him, but didn't because he knew it would've been grounds for a fight. That was the last thing any of them wanted to have at this point.

"Thank you, we'll be there presently." Jiraiya assured him before closing the door. "You heard the man." He told the rest of the team. "Let's move it." No one groaned or said a word. They just put whatever it was they were holding and walked out of the room. As they walked out of the hotel, the Kumo shinobi fell in besides them. He didn't say anything, but they knew he was there to make sure they got to the Raikage and nowhere else.

As they walked through the streets, the difference between Konoha and Kumo couldn't have been more different. While Konoha looked like a village that grew and had things added on over time, Kumo looked like its buildings were either carved out of or built into the mountains. It looked like every roof of a building was a platform to be used. If some of the members of Team Paragon were honest, it kinda looked like upside mushrooms on a mountain atop of each other. Below each and every roof were multiple glass panes that, from a distance, looked like they were all one window. If they looked straight up, they could see clouds passing or encircling the mountains.

"Either Toph or Aang would love it here." Sokka stated as he looked around. Aang would love it for the feeling that he was almost at the same elevation of the Air Temples. Toph would love it for the ample amount of earth surrounding her.

"I can almost see Aang leaping off one of the high spots on the mountain and flying through the air, laughing." Suki reminisced with a fond smile. The monk always seemed happy when he was gliding through the air.

"Funny, I can almost see us throwing him over the edge without his gilder staff after he did something stupid." June remarked with a small smirk. Both Sokka and Naruto couldn't help but smirk along with her, showing their agreement.

"That's a little harsh of you, June." Jiraiya told her.

"It's not like he'd be killed by it." Sokka said in reply with a shrug of his shoulders. All Aang would have to do is either bend the air beneath him into a cushion to soften his landing or bend the earth to rise up and catch him.

"Besides, F.S.-sensei, we both know that the first word either of us thinks when it comes to Aang is not 'Avatar'." Naruto said, joining the conversation.

"Fair enough," The Toad Sage conceded. He may have been one of the last people on the team to meet the person-in-question, but he saw it just as well.

"What's the first word you guys think of?" Suki asked. The first word she thought of when thinking of Aang was "goofy".

"Idiot," The rest of the team (minus Sokka) chorused as one.

"Now that's harsh." She declared.

"Suki, if I had joined the group just after Aang had been freed, he would soon have a permanent red imprint of my hand on the back of his head." Naruto told her. "And it would be from the number of times I've slapped him there for his stupidity. That entire journey to the North Pole and past that would've been a lot shorter if someone had actually tried to curb his idiocy."

"And curb Katara too." Sokka added a little reluctantly. He didn't want to admit it but there had been times when his sister had encouraged the stupidity or started it herself. "But in fairness, if it wasn't for Aang's stupidity, we wouldn't have gone to Kyoshi Island and met Suki." He pointed out.

"That's a fair point." The blonde conceded. "But still, we would've skipped a lot of places that you didn't really need to go to."

"But you didn't know about him being released." Suki pointed out.

"Suki, trust me, if we knew that Aang was to be released, Naruto would've been there." Azula assured the Kyoshi Warrior. Whether it would've been her orders or Ozai's, Naruto would've been there. What happened next would've been up for grabs.

"It doesn't matter in the end." June said, stopping Suki's incoming remark. "What's happened has happened. You weren't there and Aang doesn't have that red imprint on the back of his head." She told Naruto.

"He's still an idiot." He muttered to himself.

"I never said otherwise." The bounty hunter said, having heard what he'd said. "I just hope any children he has will never be as stupid as him." If that happened, the future of Airbending did not look good.

"If I can your attention, we're here." Their escort announced. They all stopped and looked up at the mountain before them. If what they had seen before was something, the large blue building built into the mountain was something that inspired awe.

"Whoa. And I thought the Earth King's palace was impressive." Sokka remarked. Just when he thought he had seen it all, something usually comes along and knocks that idea to the ground (sometimes a bit harder than needed).

"You get used to it." Jiraiya said with nonchalance. He had been to Kumo many times before (on both official and unofficial business) and had gotten used to the sight of the Raikage building. If there was one thing he knew about it, it served as an excellent landmark (particularly if you had no idea where you were and were trying to hide from angry women). "Besides, it starts becoming a pain to walk up all those steps." He might not like it, but he was getting old.

"Then why don't you just walk up the side of the mountain?" Naruto asked. It seemed like a pretty good idea to him.

"If you did that, the only way to get into the building would be to break a few windows. And the last time I checked, only one person in Kumo could do that." The Toad Sage drily remarked as he followed their guide into the mountain. The rest of the team just followed him in silence while Nyla and Akela waited outside (after June had told the shirshu to behave itself).

As it turned out, he was right. Climbing the stairs just to get to the office of the Raikage was a workout in-and-of itself. Apparently (from what their guide told them) students from the Kumo Academy trained on these stairs, going up and down repeatedly. The goal for them was to be able to get up to the same floor of the Raikage's office and back down in ten minutes or less. While the shinobi in the group could see how that would work (and work well, for a trained shinobi could get up these stairs much quicker) the rest of the group couldn't and just thought that walking up the narrow, stone stairs was a very good form of torture (although none of them said that aloud).

"We're here." The guide announced as they came out of the stair case and into a hallway way that curved slightly. He didn't pause, he just kept walking and the others had to follow him.

"Thank the Spirits." Sokka heaved as he tried to get his breath back. He knew that he was in good shape (he had to be, otherwise he would be dead. That was the way of the Southern Water Tribe), but the climb was exhausting. "I think I almost died back there."

"Suck it up, Sokka. You're embarrassing us." Jiraiya told the Water Paragon, looking only slightly tired.

"Pardon me if I haven't been training to be a shinobi since I was eight. You could kill a man by making him walk those stairs without end!" He complained.

"We don't do that, it's too messy." Their guide said in reply. It was a simple reply, but they all noticed that he didn't say how they killed someone. Before anyone could ask that question, he stopped in front of a door and opened it. "The team from Konoha is here, Lord Raikage." He announced.

"Send them in." The gruff voice of the Raikage said from within the room. As they walked into the room, the ones who hadn't been there before couldn't help but compare it to the office of the Hokage. This office didn't have the shelves of books surrounding the desk. The only thing that was nearby was a punching bag. The office wasn't small but it also wasn't overly huge. Behind the desk, the Raikage didn't in a chair. He lounged on a sofa. Even though most of the team (June and Naruto excluded) had seen him before, none of them (with the exception of Jiraiya) had actually met him. But they could tell by just his presence (which made people feel that he was bigger than he actually was) that he was someone not to be taken lightly. Standing by the sofa was a young, silver-haired woman dressed in somewhat formal clothes (at least for a shinobi).

"Lord Raikage." Jiraiya greeted the man with a respectable bow of his head.

"Jiraiya," He greeted curtly. Looking over at the blonde in the group, he scowled at him. "So, you're the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi."

"I don't think he likes you, gaki." The afore-mentioned fox stated. He hadn't met the current Raikage, but he had some history with Kumo so he knew the type of shinobi that came out of this village.

"I noticed." Naruto silently replied as he held eye contact with the man in front of him. "And you're the guy who's not wearing a shirt." He remarked casually.

The scowl deepened. "Didn't Jiraiya ever teach you to respect your elders and betters?" The Raikage asked him.

"Nope, he's teaching me how to last against the Akatsuki. The person who taught me to respect my elders was a sergeant in a Fire Nation boot camp. He also told me not to respect my betters, but to beat them." He had fond memories of that sergeant. Last time he had heard about him, he was training recruits at Akawan.

The scowl on his face lessened somewhat as he nodded in acknowledgment. "Well said. However, I will be frank with you. I don't like you Konoha types in my village. I'd rather leave you out of my village's business and pretend that we don't share something in common."

"Then why did you?" June asked. The Raikage seemed to be a bit rude to her but also had the priorities of his village before his own. She could respect him for that, on some level.

"Lord Killer Bee saw your fight with Orochimaru." The silver-haired woman explained, looking at Naruto. "When he saw that you were unexperienced, he became worried and persuaded Lord A into having you come here to be trained."

"And why exactly would he care about that?" He asked back.

"And who in the name of the Spirits names their kid A?" June asked as well. She had never heard of something like that before. "Please tell me your parents' names weren't Y and Z." She told the Raikage.

"It's a Kumo tradition." Jiraiya explained, hoping to forestall any potential problems that might arise from that comment. "The Raikage usually has a partner and together, they're called the A-B Combo. In the shinobi world, it's known as the strongest tag team."

"That would explain the names." Azula remarked quietly to herself.

"Bee never told me his reasons, but I gathered that if you weren't trained, the Akatsuki would go after you, which makes my brother a very large target." The Raikage said to Naruto.

"So basically, if your brother trains me, he'll have less of a painted target on his back." The blonde summarized.

"Correct. Do you resent me for that?" He asked, challenging the person who was called the Shinobi Kikan (when he had heard that title for the first time, he had scoffed at the contradiction of it).

"Should I be?" The Fire Paragon asked back. "You place the wellbeing of your village and your brother above my own. You're a leader; you're supposed to do that. I can respect that."

The challenging look in A's eyes disappeared. "I had heard that you would've done the same for your village. It's a good thing to have if you want to lead Konoha."

"Yes, it is." He agreed. Everyone in the room had then realized that he hadn't said that he wasn't a part of Konoha anymore.

"But considering the fact that he hasn't rejoined Konoha, the chances of him leading it are highly unlikely." Sokka cut in before the questioning got awkward and/or hostile. "We're just a group they've hired to help them take care of the Akatsuki."

"And currently, that apparently means getting trained by your brother." Naruto agreed after briefly looking at his fellow Paragon. "Where is he?"

"He's waiting for you and you alone in the outer most training grounds." The Raikage pointed at the blonde with his finger before moving a piece of paper across the desk. "Follow those instructions and you'll get there."

"What about the rest of us?" Azula demanded. "Are we just going to wait here?"

"If you want to watch, there's a roof that you can use nearby. That way, you'll be safe from the fight. Now get going." He ordered, flicking his fingers at them like they were children that needed to go away now. Some of the team looked offended by his actions, but Jiraiya herded them out of the room before anyone could say anything.

Naruto stood in the training ground, waiting in silence. If he looked up and to the left, he could faintly make his teammates along with the Akela and Nyla. He hadn't been waiting that long, but he had expected the Raikage's brother to be there already. "Dear Kami, please tell me he isn't one of those people who make an entrance." The blonde silently pleaded.

"Maybe he just got lost?" The Kyūbi suggested, a little too innocently.

"He lives here! He can't get lost in his own village!" He objected.

"…Do I need to remind you of that one time when you were six?"

"That doesn't count. It was dark and it was a different neighborhood."

"Of course it was." The fox said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Before Naruto could say anything in response, a cloud of smoke appeared on the other end of the training field. "Yo! Say! Ho!" cried a voice from within the cloud. "A little birdy comes looking for training from me, the one and only Killer Bee!" When the cloud dissipated, Naruto the person the voice belonged to in a ridiculous pose.

He could only think of one thing to say. "I'm pretty sure that you're the one who asked for me." He told the man on the other side of the training ground. The man was exactly like Sokka and Azula had said about him during the party celebrating Zuko's coronation. But it was one thing to hear about the man's bad rapping and listening to it in person.

"Now don't go changing the facts, it'll ruined the act." The man called Killer Bee admonished him (at least he thought it was supposed to be admonishing). "You're here to be trained, even out in the rain. That's what I intend to do, so you will too." He crossed the training ground until he was a few feet in front of the blonde.

"Yeah, about that," He said almost to himself. "Look, I mean no disrespect to you. But the fact is I really don't have time to deal with this kind of thing. I've got to deal with the Akatsuki and this would be kinda distracting. So why don't just tell your brother that you couldn't teach me and my team and I will be on our way." It was a sound idea to him. He didn't have to worry time being wasted and the Raikage wouldn't have to worry about them being in the village.

Bee just stared at him, not saying a word. "…Do you mean to tell me, that you're denying the chance to be trained by the great Killer Bee?" He finally asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Naruto answered easily with a grin.

"Fool, ya fool! There's no choice in the matter! Between being trained and walking away, you're going with the former, not the latter!" The Kumo shinobi in front of him shouted. The look of anger and fury that appeared on his face surprised the blonde. "You're not leaving this place until I say so and right now, I'm saying no."

He rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh. "So much for trying to get out of this the easy way," He thought to himself.

"When has that ever worked for you?" The Kyūbi asked back.

He didn't answer (mostly because when he did try, it landed him in more trouble). "Alright, if you insist on going through with this, what are we supposed to do?" He asked Bee.

"We fight each other until I can see where you stand. I hope you're ready, 'cause if not, I'm going to rearrange the land." He reached back and somehow managed throw all seven swords strapped to his back into the air. As the swords came back, they all landed in odd places, like his elbow or behind his knee (he even held one in his mouth). In the end, Bee stood on one foot and had taken what Naruto could only assume was some kind of stance.

"What kinda stance is that?" The blonde thought to himself. He was torn between stunned speechlessness and laughing out loud. But he still was impressed. He knew enough about swordplay to know that the stance Bee had was solid and steady. It looked like he had been using the stance, as well as the seven swords, for a long time.

"An odd one, I'll grant you." The Kyūbi said as he looked at the stance himself. "But still, don't let your guard down."

"Like I would," He retorted. That was the moment Killer Bee decided to strike. He launched himself at Naruto, flipping around in the air like a coin. When he landed, he started attacking the blonde, forcing him back and giving ground. His style of fighting was, for lack of a better word, unorthodox and confusing. "Whoa!" Naruto thought in surprise as he ducked and rolled out of the way of the swords. The swords didn't stay in one spot. Bee was constantly moving them, spinning them in the air before grabbing them again and using them in a different way.

"Come on, ya fool! You should try to fight, unless you have no might." He taunted Naruto as he kept on attacking.

"Was that supposed to be an insult?" The blonde asked as he twisted away from one of the swords. He couldn't really tell with all that rapping the Kumo shinobi was doing. At the moment he really couldn't fight back. All he could do was to use the moves of Airbending to stay out of the way (and potentially get around to Bee's back, but that wasn't likely at the moment). He knew he needed to get the swords away from his opponent, but the chances of that happening easily were not high.

All-the-while, Bee kept on attacking. Every time Naruto tried to go one way, he immediately followed. His swords kept moving, like they had a life of their own. The blonde had already lost count of the number of times one of those swords had drawn blood, only for it to be healed shortly after (for which he was immensely glad for the accelerated healing he had). He soon got tired of only avoiding the swords. He leapt back to put some distance between the two of them, creating three clones in the process. As each one of them drew two kunai, they encircled Bee.

"Looks like he's going with the trapping method," Azula noted as she watched the fight from a borrowed pair of binoculars. The roof where Team Paragon was watching from was high enough to ensure they were out of potential danger, but not high enough so they wouldn't be able to hear the fight. "I don't think that'll work well."

"It looks like it's working to me." Sokka said, also watching from a pair of binoculars. To him, Naruto and his clones had trapped Bee in one spot. He had been impressed by the fact that the Kumo shinobi was able to wield seven swords all at the same time and in perfect coordination. When he saw that for the first time, he wondered how Piandao would do against Killer Bee. Two masters of the sword, dueling one another. It would probably be the kind of fight that would produce either a lot of poetry or art.

"It might, if his target needed to move around to attack." June said, agreeing with Azula. "But it looks like Bee can fight with ease in one spot. Just watch." They did and saw the truth of her words. While Naruto and his three clones circled Bee and fought him, he just turned, flipped (in place!), and spun to strike back and block the kunai. The fight was going the same way it was before, only now it was stationary. "Naruto needs to up his game if he wants to win this fight." The bounty hunter commented.

"He's not going to up his game." Jiraiya told her from where he leaned against the railing. He was the only one there who didn't have a pair of binoculars (as he had claimed he already knew how the fight was going to go). "Both of them know this is only an evaluation fight. Until it's needed, neither of them will go any farther then what they think is needed. And for Naruto, that concept is a lot tighter than Bee's."

"It sounds like you know Bee." Suki remarked.

He shrugged. "We shared a few drinks and stories during peacetime. Once you get past his rapping, Bee's a likable guy."

"Well, the rapping is going to take a bit to get used to. And this is coming from the person who met some of the weirdest traveling musicians on our side of the planet." Sokka stated, remembering the whole Cave of Two Lovers fiasco (just thinking about it made him want to slap his forehead). The sound of flesh hitting flesh filled the air, turning their attention back to the fight below them. "What happened?" The Water Paragon demanded as he looked back down at the combatants.

"Naruto literally managed to get the drop on Bee." Azula told him as she kept her eyes all but glued to the binoculars. "While the other three distracted him, he or one of the clones leapt overhead and managed to land a decent kick on Bee's shoulder."

"But it doesn't look like it really did anything." June noted. From what she saw, Bee hadn't slowed down in the slightest. He was still fighting at the same pace as before.

"That's because it didn't." Jiraiya said. "Bee saw the kick coming, that's why it hit his shoulder. If he hadn't seen it, it would've gone to his head."

"Well, so much for that idea." Naruto thought to himself as he landed in a roll. The mid-air kick didn't do as much as he had hoped. In fact, it didn't look like it did anything at all. His opponent was still going strong. "And the trapping method isn't doing much good either. I need a new strategy."

"Kit, use my chakra." The Kyūbi urged his Jinchūriki. He could see that the blonde was going to need now more than ever.

"No." He immediately replied.

"Kit, you're at a disadvantage and we both know it. If you use my chakra, the fight will be on more even ground." The fox tried to persuade him.

"I said no!" No matter how hard the fight was or was going to be, he would not use the Kyūbi's chakra to gain an advantage. He would not lose control over himself.

"Now's not the time to be talkin' to your Bijū." Bee admonished him. "You lose focus and I'll beat you." With an ease that was enviable, the Kumo shinobi destroyed the three clones, stabbing them with his swords and making them dispel, "See what I mean, ya little bean?"

"He could've taken those clones out at any time! Kami take it, he's playing with me!" The blonde realized with anger. "How did you know I was talking to the Kyūbi?" He all but demanded.

"You all but scream it, ya fool. I'm guessin' it told you to use its chakra like it's a tool." His whole body seemed to relax for a moment, like he was losing all the tension he had in it. "And if that's your aim, then it's time for me to up my game." The two swords that were held in his hands were suddenly engulfed in chakra that crackled and hiss.

"He can channel his chakra into his swords!" Naruto suddenly realized as he stared at those swords. "He's a Lightning Style user!"

"Well, don't just stand there, idiot! Move your ass!" The Kyūbi yelled at him. He jerked in surprise from the volume of the fox's voice, but promptly heeded its words. He twisted off to the side when Bee attacked him again. This time there was an added danger to the swords. Even though he had doubled his efforts to avoid the strikes of the swords, some still managed to get through. When he was hit, the lightning made the swords pierce deeper into his skin. That, in turn, made the accelerated healing take longer to close the wounds. That caused the pain feel like it lasted longer to him, like he was constantly being stung by bees (later, he would acknowledge the irony of that description).

"There has got to be a way of making this fight easier for me!" He mentally growled in frustration. His kunai were practically useless against swords that were enhanced with Lightning Style.

"Use my chakra, gaki." The fox pressed him.

"I already said no." He snapped. "There has to be a way other than that!" He then realized something that, had he not been in the middle of a fight, would've made him pull a Sokka and slap his forehead. "I am such a Kami-forsaken idiot."

"A fact I've never disputed."

"Shut up." He leapt back from Bee and held his two kunai up to his face in a guard. "Fūton: Shinkūjin (Wind Style: Vacuum Blade)!" He breathed his chakra onto on the kunai, letting it take the shape of wind and giving the two a longer range and a better edge. "Much better," He openly remarked as Bee came at him again. This time, he didn't dodge; instead he met his opponent head on, his kunai clashing with the swords. The kunai held, not breaking in half as he had feared beforehand.

"Looks like you have some bite." Bee calmly noted as he pushed against the kunai (making the blonde push back with equal force). "Now I have to wonder if you can back it up with your might."

"Let's find out." Naruto replied, disengaging the lock between the swords and kunai and gave his opponent a spinning round kick to his side. It made him stumble slightly, but that was enough for the blonde. He pressed forward, switching from the Airbending stance he had taken into a Firebending stance. "I guess fire and wind do work well together." He noted to himself as he slashed through one of Bee's swords, cutting it in half with one of the kunai. He hooked the other kunai onto his finger and started spinning it around, creating a deadly windmill.

Bee tried to break past the windmill, but it acted like a shield. It had cost him one of his swords, catching him by surprise. He had thought that since his control over his chakra was probably better than his opponent's, his swords would be able to hold against the kunai. But he was mistaken, it cost him a sword and then it cost him another when it went through another sword. "An impressive shield you have created." He admitted to Naruto. "It seems like something that can't be penetrated."

"That was the idea." The Fire Paragon replied as he used the spinning kunai to force Bee back and destroyed two more swords. "And now, you've got only two swords left. You really can't use that weird swordplay anymore, can you?"

"Shouldn't have said that," The Kyūbi commented.

"That may be, but being at a disadvantage it does not make me." He lunged at Naruto with one of his swords in a stabbing move. While it looked like it was heading for the windmill, its actual target was the finger the kunai was hooked to. Naruto realized this just as the sword was about to pierce the finger and jerked it away. However, that action made the kunai itself fly off his finger and sail through the air before imbedding itself in a nearby tree. That distracted Naruto for a moment but that moment was enough. With a flick of his wrist, Bee cut the remaining kunai from just under the blade, leaving only the hilt in Naruto's hand. "You tried talking smack, now I've paid you back. Fool, ya fool."

"Damn it!" The blonde silently swore as he dropped the ruined hilt. He had a feeling that if he tried to reach for more kunai, Bee wouldn't let him.

"I did say you shouldn't have said that." His tenant told him.

"I thought I already told you to shut up!"

"Two swords remain for the Killer Bee, but I think it's time to show you why you came to me." Bee told him as he put away his two remaining swords.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto demanded.

"It's time for the eighth!" He stuck his hand into the air, making a gesture that probably made sense only to him and shouted "WHEEEEEE!" Chakra that was the color of red began to appear and cover his body. The chakra didn't stay still as it covered the Kumo shinobi, it boiled and hissed as well as having parts of it bubble over and pop open. Naruto could only stare in growing horror as the red chakra fully covered Bee. The Kumo Jinchūriki stood there with ease as the red chakra created eight tails that flowed behind him (as well as two horns above his head). "Here I come, ya fool!" He said, charging straight forward.

"Crap!" Naruto thought to himself as he leapt out of the way of the charge. It was fast but linear. If he kept his focus on Bee, he'd probably be okay. But he had never faced an opponent who had something like this in his arsenal (Gaara didn't really count, mostly because he went straight to the sand and was raving by the time Naruto had gotten there).

"Kit, for the love of Kami, will you just use my chakra already!" The Kyūbi all but ordered him. "You need it now more than ever!"

"How many times do I have to say it furball? I am not using your chakra!" He replied both stubbornly and defiantly.

"If you don't then you can't beat him! There's no way around that chakra if you don't make one yourself!"

"There has to be one!" There just had to be a way to get past that chakra without losing control over his body.

"Are you not listening to me? There isn't one! If you want to beat him, you must use my chakra. So do it!"

"I thought I told you, now's not the time to be talkin' to your Bijū." Bee told him, getting his attention. The Kumo shinobi stood on the other side of the now scarred training ground. The red chakra still covered him and it didn't look like it was going anywhere. "You stop paying attention, I'll give you domination!" He charged forward, his arm out and ready to use. "Lariat!"

When he saw what was coming, Naruto chose to not get out of the way. Instead, he took an Earthbending stance and waited. Just as the arm was going to slam into him, he reached out and grabbed hold, pushing back against it. He skidded back a few feet as Bee tried to keep moving. It was a struggle that last quite a few seconds before Bee finally stopped. Without saying a word, he dropped his arm and stepped back, dispelling the red chakra. "What? Are you giving up?" Naruto challenged him in a panting voice.

"You didn't use the chakra of your Bijū." Bee said almost quietly.

"Damn right I didn't." He said with pride in his voice.

"You sure are a fool. Didn't you realize? If you had used it, the fight would be over and the damage would've been marginalized." If it was possible to have disdain in one's voice while rapping, Bee was able to do it.

"What are you talking about? The fight is over." He protested, only to start feeling pain in his hands. Looking down at them, they looked like they had been badly burned and it didn't feel like his accelerated healing was working.

"The fight isn't over, not until I say so. And now, I'm thinkin' no." He turned his back on the blonde and began to walk away. "Be here tomorrow in the morning, two hours after the sun rises. We'll fight and you'll see where the truth lies."

"I already know the truth!" He shouted at the back of the Kumo shinobi, anger filling his voice. "I won't use the fox's chakra! I won't let it take control of me!" If Bee had heard him, he didn't say anything. He just left the field, leaving Naruto to deal with the pain in his hands. While they would heal in just a few hours, it didn't feel like that to Naruto. He collapsed to his knees, the pain filling the rest of his senses.

"He lost." Sokka said in stunned surprise. He really couldn't believe it. Ever since he had met the blonde, he had always thought that he was unbeatable. To see him get beaten so easily was like a bad wake up call.

"That went as expected." Jiraiya said with a shrug of his shoulders, sounding disinterested at what had just happened.

That made everyone there look over at him. "Are you saying that you were expecting that outcome?" Suki demanded. "I thought you had faith in Naruto."

"Suki, I knew what the outcome was going to be before the fight even started. Naruto never had a chance against Bee, not the way he is now." He explained. "If he wants to beat Bee, he's going to have to change."

"Change what?"

"A lot of things," He answered both cryptically and simply. "But he's going to have to figure out that for himself. We can't help him there." As much as he wanted to help Naruto, the only person who could at this point was Bee. "Come on." He said to them as he turned around and went for the entrance back into the mountain. "Let's get down there and help him get back to the hotel." The others heartily agreed with that idea as they rushed after him. When they finally heard Naruto scream in pain, it urged them to go faster.

(Location: Raikage's office)

A was working on the bane of all Kages past and present: paperwork. He was alone in the office, trying to focus on what was in front of him (Mabui had threatened to take away his barbells and punching bag away and lock him in the office if he didn't) but he couldn't focus. He was completely bored. When someone knocked on the door, he looked up from the paperwork, secretly glad something else had his attention. "Who is it?" He asked aloud.

The door opened and Bee walked into the room. "Yo, bro," He greeted A casually.

The Raikage raised an eyebrow in question. Bee was never one to enter a room or greet someone he knew casually. "I take it that your little fight with the Kyūbi Jinchūriki is done?" He asked. Bee nodded in answer. "Good, I'll make preparations to have you two transported to the island."

"You might want to wait on that." His brother told him, speaking without rapping and with a serious expression on his face.

His tone of voice got A's attention immediately. "What happened?" The Raikage demanded.

"He's afraid of his Bju's chakra and refuses to use it. I can't take him to the island until he does use it." Bee explained to his brother. "We'll have to stay in Kumo until then."

"Why would he be afraid of the Bijū's chakra?" The chakra of a Bijū was dangerous just by itself. If a Jinchūriki knew how to properly harness it, they would become a powerhouse. Personally, he thought that every Jinchūriki would want to know how to do that (both Bee and Yugito sure did).

"I don't know. But currently, I need to know how good he is with the Kyūbi's chakra, whether it's rage-induced or not. Once I've seen that, I'll take him to the island. Until then, I'll just keep at him, making him fight until he does use the chakra."

"Very well, but be sure it happens soon, Bee. The sooner these Konoha mercenaries are gone from Kumo, the better." He didn't like people from the other Hidden Villages, shinobi especially, in Kumo. For all he knew, they could be spies trying to gather intelligence and report it back to their village.

"It'll take as long as it takes, bro." He replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "No more and no less. That's all I can give you."

"Fine," He conceded. At least he knew that if Bee was going to do something, it was going to be done. "Is there anything else you needed?"

Bee shook his head, "Nah, bro, that's all." He said, rapping once again. "But that is one hell of a paperwork load. And here I thought you had cracked its code."

"Keeping talking, Bee, and I'll give you the Iron Claw." A warned him with a growl. Now that the serious discussion was over, he had to get back to the paperwork and he wasn't up for his brother's usual antics.

"I highly doubt that." He replied with what almost seemed like smugness in his voice. "You try to get away from the paper and Mabui will come after you with a new stack. And since you're already busy with all of this paper, I won't be a blind beggar."

"That's it! Come here, Bee!" The Raikage leapt over his desk. Realizing that he should've just kept his mouth shut, Bee turned around and bolted. It soon became a merry chase around the building. Thankfully, people in the building knew to get out of the way when something like happened (as it did often). The chase finally ended when A caught Bee just as he was about to escape from the building. Even though his screams echoed around the village, nobody really paid attention to it.

End

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

Now I don't care what you might say in Aang's defense (he's twelve, he's from a different time, he's an Air Nomad), but the bottom line is that the boy is an idiot. The way he gets into trouble is almost impressive (if it wasn't so freaking stupid). Personally, I think that if he had grew up a little when he was told he was the Avatar, he wouldn't have gotten into that kind of trouble (big boy pants, people. Big boy pants). And let's be honest, sometimes Katara does encourage the stupidity or starts it herself. Honestly, how is stealing from pirates a good idea?!

I realize that since I had stayed as close as canon as I could, I'm in no position to point out the particularities of the stupidity they have. But if you want to read a story where Aang is constantly called out for bring an idiot (and yet, doesn't seem to get it until the end) I would recommend the story "Embers" by the author Vathara. It's currently about ninety chapters and, quite frankly, worth every chapter. However, it was started before Legend of Korra came onto the air, so a few details will be different.

Again, I apologize for the chapter not being the usual length. But like the pervious chapters, there's only so much you can cram into a chapter that's basically centered on a fight. With any luck, the future chapters will be back to their normal length.

I'll see you all next chapter!