Sorry for being so late with this chapter work caught up with me and before I knew it months. Anyway enjoy the chapter as I'm sure you don't want to hear my excuses no matter how good they are. So here's a bad one, not to do with work or essays I've had to do. I got lost on the road of life.
Also as a weird note up until this point my chapters have been getting longer if only by a few words.
Again I own nothing in this story. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Avatar the Last Airbender to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.
Sacrifice and Loss
Training. That's what they were doing, or at least had been doing until the avatar had led them off on mini vacations to get rest, with so much at stake and so little time Neji would have thought the avatar, albeit young, would have had more focus, as it was a hyperactive goldfish had more focus then him. Hell even Naruto could have more focus then him at the minute and Neji thanked the greater powers for that small mercy. Naruto being away from the village on training with Jiraiya-sama had meant that he was obviously not eligible for missions so he wasn't here right now and as such the number of people that could be hyper and annoying was limited to two. Two too many according to the grumbles that could be heard resonating from various sleeping places at night.
In all fairness though Neji conceded training was all they had done over the last few weeks since they had joined forces. Neji didn't know exactly what the avatar had done, but he knew he had started learning earth bending, in a way he was sort of similar to a Jonin back home as he had to master different elements to progress. The three shinobi had of course training of their own and as such for the most part had strayed away from the group of locals to focus their own arts by themselves. Well Neji had at least, he had strayed away on patrol and lookout whilst training to keep a look out for any enemies that might have been trying to sneak up on them, which is what he was doing now as he watched the young avatar sit and play happily upon his flute and as the strange creatures popped out of the earth in response making an orchestra.
***
Anyway the coalition was created on shaky grounds. Sure the first night was peaceful, but when exhaustion if coupled with a group of could be guards that just fought your bitter enemy to save you a temporary truce can occur. However this doesn't usually last past the morning when sleep clears and you remember with crystal clearness what is going on, how much trouble you're in and how you're going to deal with it, if you can.
"Alright!" Sokka announced to the semi-circle of people gathered around him sitting on rocks in various states of erosion. Aang, Katara and Toph on one side with team Gai on the other side. The sky was a bright blue overhead and a few fluffy clouds spun lazily across the blue air-sea. Closer to the ground the sunlight bore down on the mountain, its bright rays baking the teens and pre teens with its glow. Shrubbery crawled up the nearby rocky walls and a cave mouth opened almost ominously behind Sokka, its dark depths a start contrast to the bright light outside.
"Sokka can we please get on with this." Aang almost whined. "Its baking out here and they really don't seem like bad people."
"Yeah I agree with twinkle - toes" Toph added leaning back and angling her face up whilst blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "They did help fight off the crazy fire princess how bad can they be?"
"You don't understand!" came Sokka's strangled reply. "This is all part of their plan to make us cosy and the WHAM! We're killed or captured."
"Sokka I can't help, but think that you're blowing this out of proportion" Katara said stifling a yawn whilst shifting on her respective rock. "I mean they've been sitting over their looking over the camp for a good hour before you woke up and I only know they were doing it for that long because that's how long I've been awake for."
"I still say we need to conduct an interview!" Sokka claimed slamming one closed fist down onto his open palm. "I mean to see if they fit into our top – notch group!"
"If it will help alleviate your worries then fine." Neji said. "But can we conduct this quickly, the avatar cannot afford brakes in his training and neither can we."
"We must almost speak with Aang on some private matters." Tenten spoke up from beside Neji.
"Fine okay" Sokka conceded. "Right, ah-hem!" Sokka cleared his throat a little too dramatically.
"First question, who are you?" He asked.
"I am Neji Hyuga" Neji replied motioning to himself. "These are my companions Rock Lee and Tenten." He carried on motioning to the respective person. "We are shinobi from the village hidden in the leaves."
"What are shinobi?" Sokka asked stroking his chin and looking seriously at them.
This time Rock Lee answered with. "Shinobi or ninja are the youthful warriors from our village, we split into teams to promote teamwork and comradely and perform mission together"
"There are different ranks." Tenten carried on. "You start as genin under a Jonin sensei or instructor and then you advance to Chunin and the Jonin."
"And what are you?" Sokka asked still stroking his chin. "If only I had a beard" he muttered after asking his question. "Some sort of attachable beard would be great for situations like this and I could use it as a disguise I must get one."
"If you can put your beard ideas to one side for a moment." Tenten said in a huff. "Me and Lee are both Chunin whereas Neji has reached the rank of Jonin and is the leader of our team at the moment."
"I see interesting, interesting" Sokka said still with his hand on his chin. "Yes a beard would defiantly be useful for disguises, or for other moments like this."
"How often are you expecting moments like this?" Katara questioned.
"Guys we're going off on a tangent here." Aang said looking at what he hoped was his new group of friends.
"Oh yes sorry." Sokka replied waving Aang off. "Let's see where was I... oh yes where is your village."
"The Land of Fire." Was the reply.
People always underestimate the impact of words. Words start wars, bring peace can cause genocides or persecution or prejudice and rivalry. In the right hands words can be moulded into bringers of peace or weapons of mass destruction. The impact of the following words was as followed. As if in slow motion several things seemed to happen at once. Sokka's face contorted in shock, before passing through several emotions including fear, hatred, anguish and several other interesting variations and some emotion previously thought non-existent and some that were fairly amusing until it reached the peak of the emotion of rage. Whilst his face was contorting in not only ways previously thought impossible, but also with an unfathomable speed his arms went from hanging limply and resigned at his side to one darting behind him to grab his trusty boomerang in one hand to the other left hand grabbing his machete. Aang sprung up his glider/staff flying into his hands before being brought down into a hastily erected guard position. Katara's hands rose and fell water slithering its way out of her bottle and several other places nearby, the cooking pot for one, to form a barrier and hovering pool in front of her. Toph jumped to her feet and when her feet slammed down pillars of earth rose out of the ground near the three shinobi whilst her hands got ready in a defensive stance. Lee flipped over so his hands now rested where he had been sitting and he swung his legs round in kicks smashing aside the pillars approaching him and his team. Tenten shifted slightly uncomfortably in her place, but nethertheless had adopted a pose that whilst she may be sitting down she could easily spring into action as she held twin summoning scrolls in her hands.
Neji on the other hand reacted much more calmly merely refolding his hands and waiting for the show to finish.
"See I was right!" Sokka nearly screamed. "They are fire nation!"
"How could you betray us?" Katara asked with some pain in her eyes.
"I don't see the problem here..." Neji spoke before getting cut off.
"Well I do you fire nation bullies." Sokka said striding menacingly forward.
"Wait Sokka give them a chance to explain themselves." Aang said his eyes shifting backwards and forwards between his old friends and this new group.
"But Aang..." this time it was Sokka's turn to be cut off mid sentence.
"If you would let me finish" Neji spoke with a quiet authority in his voice. "You would note that I said 'Land of Fire' and not 'Fire Nation'."
"So what's the difference?" Sokka quizzed. "Its nothing isn't it you're here as one of your 'missions' to get us aren't you."
"Why are not here to capture you I can assure you" Neji said.
"Then you're here to kill us!?" Sokka almost cried as panic and desperation took hold of him.
"Look." Neji didn't yell, but his voice carried a silencing element to it. "We have protected you in a fight, we helped guard your camp whilst you all slept like logs throughout the night. I thank you avatar Aang for trusting us" He finished his calm outburst. "Think of it like this, even if we hail from a country very similar to your autocratic 'Fire Nation' in name at least as well as base techniques, even if we were from your 'Fire Nation' you already know we are on your side. Most of the country is evil so does that make them all stereotypically evil? Are you that prejudiced that you cannot say you like any of them? Have you never met any sensible people from the Fire Nation that you liked?" The avatars group's heads started to hang. "Think of this as well would you turn away the Fire Nation outcasts who dislike their country and wish to fight against it?"
"No... no we wouldn't." Aang muttered. "We have met some people who fled their military and we got along with them, they helped and taught us."
"Precisely there you go" Tenten said joining in."
"Besides" Lee spoke up now as he was readjusting himself into a comfortable sitting position on his rock. "At the very least those two guys seemed very close and they seemed to like each other, even if the younger one had trouble trusting us, he clearly fought your enemy and cared for each other."
"But..." Sokka said trying to retain his fighting spirit.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, is that not a popular saying here?" Neji asked. "Even if you can't fully trust because of our origin, trust us because we are most defiantly your enemies, enemies and we will fight against them, even if you do consider us formal allies.
""I... I guess I trust you" Aang said. "You have done nothing, but help us and in all my travels and I have never heard of a 'village hidden in the leaves' in the Fire Nation, not even one hundred years ago. The climate has never been right enough to produce enough forest for a village to be well hidden in."
"But then... where are you from?" Sokka asked having finally resigned and agreeing that, for the moment, he would trust the new members.
Neji leaned forward. "And this is what brings us to our business with you avatar. We were chasing an opponent in the forest surrounding our village, he had stolen an important scroll and we were tasked with its retrieval."
"Only when we got to the thief he activated it in his last moments." Tenten said standing up. She started pulling the scroll out of one of her pouches. "This is it." She said. "However, the script has faded and there is no longer any chakra stored in it. You're supposed to be a link between this world and the spirit world so just maybe if you take a look at it you can figure it out. As we figure it to be a reverse summoning scroll of some sort."
"Sure it couldn't hurt to take a look." Aang said taking the scroll from Tenten's outstretched hand. He unrolled and focussed on the scroll before looking back up at her.
"Sorry, I don't understand this scroll..." He said hastily adding "...yet" after seeing a brief flash of a disappointed look cross over their faces. "If you let me hold onto I can meditate on this matter and consult the spirit world and my previous incarnations to see if they can help me" Aang said looking brighter. "I may not understand it, but they might know about some sort of bending or at least something I can do to help you guys get home."
"Ok we will leave it in your capable hands avatar." Neji said. "Of course that means we will be travelling with you and helping you on your own quest."
"You mean?" Aang started to ask.
"Yes my youthful friend!" Lee proclaimed barging his way back into the conversation after a brief period of listening. "We will help you in your quest and who knows perhaps we will become friends."
"Perhaps huh... sure." Aang said looking up and smiling at Lee.
"Nice to see the group expanding." Toph said. "Now come on twinkle-toes, don't think I've forgotten about your training."
"Yeah, you also need to work on your water bending skills as well." Katara said as the girls began to drag off Aang whilst he grinned and waved towards team Gai and Sokka animosity forgotten.
"Team we need to go training as well" Neji said. "Sokka we will leave you in charge of the camp."
***
Time is a fickle thing, there is never enough of it at any one point, yet every always wishes for time to move on, to get older or to simply get past an event they are not looking forward to. Of course time becomes annoying when you feel like you are wasting it.
The avatar moaned as he slumped down by a rock in their camp. He had been training for the past few days on earth bending with Toph yet he still had trouble going against his natural element of wind. It was dinner time and most of the party was off around the cooking pot covering the fire in the center of their sleeping bags.
"Air and earth, water and fire. Conquering the opposite element to your original has been difficult for every avatar so far, but..." Aang muttered sliding his hands down his face. "Arrgghh! Why can't I do this. I don't have time to waste I could pick up the basics of water bending so quickly and yet I can't do earth bending at all... I have to learn all the advanced form and yet I can't do anything."
"Here." Aang looked up to see Lee standing over him holding two bowls of soup or stew or whatever it was that Katara had cooked for them.
"Thanks" Aang mumbled taking the offered bowl and spoon, but he didn't start eating straight away. Instead he chose to swirl his spoon around in his bowl as Lee sat down next to him.
"You need to eat to stay healthy." Lee said shovelling the contents of his bowl into his mouth. "It is no curry, but this is good!" He proclaimed whilst Neji just shook his head.
"How do you do it?" Aang asked.
"Do what?" Lee responded.
"You and Neji and Tenten, you all seem so powerful" Aang confided. "I'm the avatar and yet I can't learn earth bending yet you seem to have grasped your abilities well."
"I would not say that." Lee said putting his bowl down. "Neji may be a natural born genius, but he is no slacker. Tenten and I and Neji have all worked hard towards our goals. We encourage each other and drive forwards to our goals and dreams."
"But why can't I do that..."
"You have a goal Aang. Something to aim for, it drives you so as long as you keep applying yourself you will succeed."
"How can you say that with such certainty?"
"I was at first a failure." Lee said looking up at the night sky. "I could not perform any ninjutsu or genjutsu and most teachers gave up on me. I did not give up though. I focussed all my training on taijutsu and would apply myself to the best of my ability and that would only be the warm up. I wanted to prove that I could become a great ninja just with taijutsu and with Neji as my rival I had someone to spar with and something to aim for." Lee paused. "Gai sensei never lost faith in me and encouraged me to do my best." Lee looked at Aang. "You may have a lot of pressure on you, but you have friends and teachers who care for you and want you to do well, you have a goal and the drive to get there and you want to protect your friends. It is not a matter of 'if' you will learn earth bending, but when and when you do we will all be proud."
"Thanks." Aang said scooping up some of his stew into his spoon and finally started to eat. "You're right this is good!" he exclaimed before he started to eat at a speed which rivalled Lee's.
"Thanks Lee." Aang said after he had finished.
"No problem." Lee said getting up and started walking back to where his team had set up their sleeping bags.
***
Aang had finally cracked earth bending a few days ago and was now in the process of tuning it down to a fine art.
"This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about , we should be making plans." Sokka said retrieving his finger from the end of Aang's flute and gesturing around him.
"We did make plans. We're all picking mini-vacations." Toph spoke up as if to just contradict Sokka for the sake of it.
"There's no time for vacations." Came Sokka's predictable retaliation.
Aang looked up before saying. "I'm learning the elements as fast as I can; I practice hard every day with Toph and Katara. I've been training my arrow off."
Katara stepped forward before adding.
"Yeah. What's wrong with having a little fun in our downtime? "
Sokka crossed his arms clearly in a bad mood.
"Even if you do master all of the elements, then what It's not like we have a map of the fire nation. Should we just head west until we reach the Fire Lord's house?" He stopped reaching up with one hand before pretending to knock on the air. " Knock knock! Hello, Fire Lord Anybody home?" Sokka stopped before clenching his fists and looking at Aang." I don't think so. We need some intelligence if we're gonna win this war."
Whilst Aang air bended himself to his feet Katara spoke up.
"Alright, we'll finish our vacations, and then we'll look for Sokka's intelligence."
As Katara and Aang consulted the map team Gai huddled together.
"Why don't we get to choose a vacation?" Tenten asked. "We've been doing nothing, but missions after you two recovered from trying to retrieve Sasuke."
"Tenten." Neji started. "We need to do all those missions for the good of the village, besides where would you want to go." He gestured around him with his arms. "We don't know where we are and we don't know any landmarks. Where could we go on vacation?"
"You raise a good point Neji." Tenten said slumping in defeat.
"Cheer up youthful Tenten. In a way this is a break, but we must keep up our training!" Lee exclaimed.
"Hey you guys!" Aang cried waving at them. "We've decided where we are going come on!"
"Alright." Neji said walking towards Appa before vaulting onto him with ease. "Where are we going?"
"The Misty Palms Oasis ." Aang replied. "It's a pristine wonder." He said whilst taking off.
***
Appa swooped down low before landing on the desert sand kicking up a large amount of sand and dust. The group dismounted and walked towards the oasis. They arrived a few decades late however as the palm trees had withered and died and only a small amount of crystallized water remained, doubtless as valuable if not more so than an actual crystal of the same size to the people taking cover from the sun's rays.
"Must have changed ownership since I was here." Aang commented whilst walking in-between the mud houses and past the dog trying desperately to gain a drink from the crystal.
Neji, Lee and Tenten quickly followed, they may have been on missions to Suna, but that still didn't prepare the shinobi that naturally lived in a shaded village fully adapt to desert sun. Toph and Katara followed them through the door dragging Sokka in with them before he could start trouble outside.
The group looked around the sparsely populated bar. A couple of people sat, hunched over at a table in the corner nursing their drinks in the low light cast by the narrow windows. Another slumped over a table asleep his snores being the only sounds breaking the silence. The bar however was more active albeit with yet another sleepy patron draped over the solid oak. A bald bartender in a green tunic stood behind the bar with two thin blades sheathed on his back whilst he talked to another patron this one seemingly more energetic this his comrades.
"I hope they're tired and that their not out because of the drinks." Neji whispered nodding towards the sleeping patrons.
"Relax." Sokka whispered back. "It's not like they're Fire Nation." Sokka paused. "No offence."
"One Mango please." Drifted over from the direction of the bar. The group stood stunned as the bartender nodded his head before turning around and slicing the ice and fruit to make the requested beverage with such finesse that it would have put all, but the most skilled swordsmen to shame.
"I don't see any problem with having one of those fruity beverages while we plan our strategy." Sokka said the previous conversation forgotten in less time than it takes Naruto to eat or inhale ramen, whichever one he did.
"That was a most youthful display of skill." Lee commented. "I too wish to partake in one of those drinks."
"Agreed." Tenten said walking towards the bar following after Sokka's dash and the others more acceptable pace. Sokka arrived and started to place his order. Whilst he was doing this the original patron in white turned around only to crash into Aang.
"No worries, I clean up easy!" Aang said with his trademark grin plastered onto his face as he concentrated before a gust of wind dried his clothes out completely. Wind however is hard to fully control as in this instance not only was Aang dried, but the man was blasted with a high velocity wind and he had to hold on to his hat to prevent losing it.
"You're a living relic!" he stated in an awe inspired voice.
"Thanks. I try." Came Aang's response as his friends crowded around him.
"An Air Nomad, right in front of me." The man exclaimed before bowing to Aang and Aang replied with a similar bow. Whilst this wordless exchange was going on Sokka was receiving the drinks he had ordered as began passing them out.
"Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University." The man said examining Aang's head. "Tell me, which of the Air temples do you hail from ?" He asked.
"The southern temple." Aang replied slightly dubiously.
Oh splendid! Now tell me, what was the primary agricultural product of your people ? Zei asked whilst measuring Aang's head with a pair of callipers.
"Uh, are fruit pies an agricultural product " Aang responded nervously.
"Oh, truly fascinating. That is one for the journal." Zei replied placing a hand on Aang's shoulder before turning after being addressed by Sokka pulling out his notepad and pen.
"So professor, you're obviously a well travelled guy. Do you have a more current map ? Ours seems to be a little dated." Sokka asked.
"Certainly." Zei replied digging into his pack to retrieve said item before unscrolling it and placing it on the table. Everyone gathered around whilst sipping at their drinks looking over the professors shoulder to get a good look at the map.
"What, no Fire Nation. " Sokka said exasperated "Doesn't anybody have a good map of that place?"
"Of course people have a good map of the Fire Nation." Neji replied. "I can think of a lot of people in fact.
"I meant people that don't belong to the Fire Nation!" Sokka almost cried.
"Who are you?" Zei asked. "Sorry I didn't mean to sound rude" he added quickly sounding excited. "It's just that I've studied the known countries and no records of people dressed like you exist and most countries are very distinctive."
"Maybe later." Neji replied quickly placing a hand on Lee's shoulder before a youth lecture could be delivered.
Katara gestured to the map. "You've made a lot of trips into the desert." She said.
"All in vain I'm afraid." Zei replied, attention drawn back to the original group. "I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel…Wan Shi Tong's Library." He said raising his fist in triumph, before lowering it in defeat.
"You spent years walking through the desert to find some guy's library ." Toph stated in disbelief.
"This library is more valuable than gold, little lady. It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge, and knowledge…is priceless." Zei responded in a chiding tone of voice.
Toph's sarcasm however remained. "Mm, sounds like good times."
"I wouldn't be so quick to doubt." Neji said looking at Toph his pale eyes narrowing slightly. "Knowledge does bring power with it."
"That's true. You sound well educated young man." Zei said. "Anyway the library, according to legend, it was built by the great knowledge spirit, Wan Shi Tong, with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers."
"Oh, so this spirit has attractive assistants, huh ?" Sokka asked.
"Either that or we now know where Naruto's shadow clones go to after he dispels them." Tenten said aside to Lee and Neji.
"I think he means they look like actual foxes, Sokka." Katara said chiding her brother whilst hitting him lightly on the head.
"You're both right. Handsome little creatures." Zei said reaching into his pack and pulling out another scroll. This one contained a picture of a few foxes. "Wan Shi Tongand his knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world, and put them on display for mankind to read, so that we might better ourselves." Zei pulled out another scroll this one with a picture of a great architectural wonder on it.
"If this place has books from all over the world, do you think they've got info on the Fire Nation, a map maybe " Sokka cried.
"I wouldn't know, but if such a thing exists, it's in Wan Shi Tong's Library." Zei replied.
"Then it's , I do believe it's my turn. I'd like to spend my vacation. AT THE LIBRARY!" Sokka yelled triumphantly.
"Uh, hey What about me When do I get to pick " Toph said waving her hands to draw attention to herself.
"You gotta work here a little longer before you qualify for vacation time." Sokka replied.
"Of course there's the matter of finding it. I've made several trips into the Si Wong Desert, and almost died each time.I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross" Zei spoke up dejectedly.
"Don't worry." Tenten said. "This time I have a good feeling that you'll find it."
"Yea!" Sokka said. "Professor, would you like to see our sky bison ?"
Zei's head and mood moved at previously unknown speeds. "A sky bison? You actually have one ?" He asked. The group strode out the door with Sokka and Zei leading, both eager to find the library, albeit for different reasons. As they approached Appa they noticed a group of sand benders trying to capture the noble sky bison.
"Sandbenders! Shoo! Away from the bison!" Zei commanded causing the sandbenders to slink off in retreat back to their sand gliders and used their bending to flee the scene.
The group mounted Appa and took off into the sky and soared out into the desert.
***
An hour had passed of fruitless searching. Sokka had spent much of the last hour silencing searching suggestions so that he could concentrate on the ground below with his spyglass. The professor had been trying to hold a conversation with Appa whilst the rest of the original group of friends looked bored. Neji viewed the scene with almost amusement.
"There it is!" Toph suddenly yelled perking up like a dog who has just smelled fresh meat. She pointed out into the desert causing Zei and the rest of team Avatar to turn and look in the direction she was pointing in. Neji didn't even bother turning around and Tenten stifled a laugh as the friends turned an outraged indignant glare on Toph.
"That's what it will sound like when one of you guys spot it." She said holding back laughter whilst waving her hand in front of her eyes to remind them.
"It shouldn't be this hard to spot the building from the air." Katara said exasperated.
"Damn... we'll be searching for days." Sokka said starting to lose the fire we previously held.
"We will" Neji started saying. "If we do it your way."
"What do you mean?" Asked Sokka.
"Well... Byakugan!" Neji cried forming a hand seal as the veins around his eyes became more pronounced.
"That is remarkable!" Zei exclaimed moving over to Neji. "What did you just do?" He asked eagerly.
"Remarkable is... one word for it I guess" Katara said.
Neji held a look of concentration for a few seconds before pointing across the desert.
"The library is in that direction." He said.
"Alright!" Aang yelled directing Appa in the right direction.
As they neared the location with Neji telling them how far away the library was Sokka was looking over the side trying to catch a glimpse of his prize.
"There's nothing here." Zei said. "That mound of stone is nowhere near big enough to be the library."
"Do you remember the creatures Aang was playing with?" Neji stated before Sokka interrupted.
"Of course! This is the library, it's just been buried." He pulled out the scroll with the image on. "Look here. The top dome matches that piece of stone there."
Appa descended before surprisingly gently landing on the sand disturbing some from their rest places and making it fly up into the air.
***
Neji landed on his feet after jumping down from the window. Lee and Tenten followed his lead whilst the rest of the expedition scaled down the side of the library on a rope after deciding to leave Toph and Appa up on the surface. Lee observed the carnivorous library that swallowed up so many books and scrolls and ledgers and charts. It was truly amazing with beams of light braking appearing sporadically where the stone had failed the test of time. Great oak bookcases rose out of the ground each holding volumes and volumes of information on astrology to cooking.
"Oh, it's breath taking. The spirits spared no expense designing this place." Zei exclaimed as he joined team Gai in marvelling the place. "Look at those beautiful buttresses!" He carried on causing Sokka and Aang to giggle.
"What's funny?" He asked.
"Nothing" Aang replied. "We just like architecture."
"So do I" Zei replied smiling not noticing the rolling of Tenten's eyes. Zei continued his exploration of the library until they heard him cry and retreat with a large owl following him. Sokka and Katara quickly dived behind one of the nearby pillars whilst Aang grabbed Zei's hand and pulled him behind another. Team Gai quickly jumped out of the way and landed behind bookcases with their hands not holding, but in the near proximity of their weapons. The owl walked up to the rope dangling from the window they had descended from. He examined it for a few seconds before his head turned round a full three hundred and sixty degrees showing what looked like eyes in the back of his head before he spoke in a voice that echoed all around the chamber the currently occupied.
"I know you're there." He stated simply.
Zei smiled gleefully, like a child who had just received a big present, and walked out onto the bridge facing the owl.
"Hello! I'm Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University." He introduced himself.
Zei bowed while the owl just looked at him apathetically.
"You should leave the way you came, unless you want to become a stuffed head of anthropology." The owl replied looking to his left to show a wall lined with stuffed animal heads.
Zei nervously rubbed the back of his head both sending out a shaky question.
"Are you the spirit who brought this library to the physical world ?" he asked.
"Indeed, I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows 10,000 things. And you are obviously humans, which by the way are no longer permitted in my study." The owl replied.
"What do you have against humans?" Aang questioned.
"Hmm, humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans,like that firebender who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy." Wan Shi Tong spoke before moving so that his face was mere inches from Sokka's. "So, who are you trying to destroy?"
"What Oh, no, no, no destroying, we're not into that." Sokka replied nervously trying to placate the now angered spirit in front of him.
"Then why have you come here ?"
"Um, knowledge, for, knowledge's sake." Sokka replied hopefully.
"If you're going to lie to an all-knowing spirit being, you should at least put some effort into it."
Sokka grabbed Aang to try and back him up. "I'm not lying. I'm here with the Avatar and he's the bridge between our worlds, he'll vouch for me." After saying this Sokka pushed Aang forwards.
"Ow" Aang said looking back at Sokka with an almost hurt expression before turning around to face Wan Shi Tong. "Uh, yeah, I'll vouch. We will not abuse the knowledge in your library, good spirit. You have my word."
Following this Aang bowed deeply with the rest of his group following suit.
"Hmm, very well. I'll let you peruse my vast collection, on one condition. To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge" Wan Shi Tong replied after a little deliberation.
"Please accept this tome as a donation to your library." Zei said kneeling down to present his book.
"First edition, very nice." Came the almost surprised reply as Wan Shi Tong swept the book up into his wing.
"I have an authentic waterbending scroll." Katara said producing said scroll from her pouch and handing it to Wan Shi Tong.
"Oh…these illustrations are quite stylish." He said as he swept the scroll up as well. Katara retreaed a few steps bowing to let Aang approach who after a moment of though produced his wanted poster.
"I suppose that counts." Wan Shi Tong said grudgingly accepting the offering.
The spirit then turned to Sokka who was trying to tie a knot quickly. He eventually managed to form it into a shape resembling a butterfly.
"It's a special knot. That counts as knowledge." He said hopefully.
"You're not very bright are you?" Wan Shi Tong questioned accepting the knot anyway. He turned past Sokka's indignant expression to face team Gai. Neji approached holding out a scroll.
"A map of the village hidden in the leaves." He said presenting his gift to Wan Shi Tong.
"Interesting map, I have never seen this before." Wan Shi Tong exclaimed taking the map and looking at it. "Good detail too." Lee approached next holding out one of his many notebooks.
"A list of Gai sensei's youthful advice!" He exclaimed handing over the book with a flourish.
"Yes most interesting." Wan Shi Tong said accepting the gift after a moment of hesitation.
Tenten was the last to approach and bowed before holding out a scroll.
"A scroll on the best methods to forge kunai." She said.
"Interesting." Wan Shi Tong said taking the offered scroll. "Enjoy the library." He said whilst turning in a type of voice that implies that it was a warning that promised dire consequences if not followed.
The group split up in the search for knowledge. Zei was obviously the most excited grabbing massive armfuls of books at a time. Aang was content looking up rare animals whilst Katara went through several tomes in different parts of the library. Sokka was looking for something to help him in battle and war very overtly which should have been sounding warning bells, but strangely didn't. Team Gai huddled near a bookcase on geography.
"This is a perfect opportunity to research methods of returning home." Neji said. "Not to mention we can also pick up a wealth of knowledge on other subjects about this place, we cannot let this opportunity go to waste." He stressed the last few words to drive home their importance.
"Got you Neji." Tenten replied. "I'll search the maps and charts to find similarities, Lee you can research history and their methods of battle if you want."
"Yes Tenten, I will research the battle techniques to see if there is anything to improve myself with!"
"Be careful Lee, we don't want to antagonize the spirit." Neji said cautiously. "I'll research the spirit world. Since Wan Shi Tong is a spirit and brought this library here from his world there should be a ready amount of information about it which could also help explain how we got here."
***
Lee wondered the halls glancing from shelf to shelf. He may have had more patience for reading then Naruto, but he definitely was not at the standard of Neji or Shikamaru, or at least when he did read, and as such he had taken to wondering the library observing some of the wonders it held that were not books. He had seen wonderfully extravagant and superbly illustrated paintings and carvings. He now made his way towards a room from which he could hear Sokka's voice emanating from.
"Firebenders loose their bending during a solar eclipse!" echoed out of the door. Lee was not the only one who had heard and Wan Shi Tong also made his way down a nearby row of book cases towards the room. Lee saw this and moved towards the room as well reaching it and glancing inside to see a wonderful display of engineering with a planetarium dominating the room with Katara, Aang, Zei and Sokka gathered around it. Lee barely had enough time to fully admire the room when he heard Wan Shi Tong behind him.
"Mortals are so predictable." He said before continuing. "And such terrible liars!"
***
A distant rumbling came from further down the library causing Neji to look up from the current book he was examining. Tenten glanced up at him, her face asking the question of 'who was it and what have they done?'. Neji proceeded to activate his Byakugan and was easily able to see into the far reaches of the library.
"Sokka's annoyed the spirit." He said plainly deactivating his blood limit.
"What should we do?" Tenten asked.
"You get out and inform Toph." Neji commanded. "I'm going to go help them get away from Wan Shi Tong."
"Got you." Tenten replied returning her book and began running up the wall next to the rope as rocks dislodged themselves from the ceiling and started to come crashing down. Neji let out a long exasperated sigh as he closed his book and returned it to its shelf.
***
Tenten quickly scaled the wall and flipped through the window.
"I already told you, I don't want to snuggle." Toph said protesting against Appa who then left her to walk around the library causing Toph to stumble.
"Library's sinking! Library's sinking!" She cried turning around sharply and thrusting her hands into the library stemming its descent. Tenten joined her.
"The others will be coming soon." She said.
"Good." Toph grunted in response.
***
Neji stood near the rope as he saw the groups mad dash towards him. Lee had already joined him at his side as Katara and Momo neared them. As they drew closed Wan Shi Tong appeared as Katara fell into a water bending stance Wan Shi Tong merely laughed with contempt.
"Your water bending won't do you much good here. I've studied Northern Water Style, Southern Water Style, even Foggy Swamp Style." He boasted. Before he had a chance to attack however he was struck hard from behind by Sokka.
"That's called Sokka style. Learn it!" He cried before he and Aang joined Katara and Momo. As they reached Neji and Lee Neji cried out to them.
"Go quickly up the rope, we'll cover your escape!" Sokka nodded his thanks as Wan Shi Tong began to stir.
"What about you?" Aang asked not wanting to lose his new friends.
"Do not worry my youthful friend!" Lee exclaimed giving a nice guy pose. "We will be able to make our way out the fastest and Tenten has already reached the surface."
"Where's Zei?" Neji asked dropping into a gentle fist stance.
"He's staying behind." Sokka yelled as he grabbed the rope and began to pull himself up.
"I suppose it's what he wanted." Neji muttered before directing his full attention back to Wan Shi Tong.
"Do not think you can delay me!" He exclaimed. "I have studied all the four elemental countries battle styles."
"Then it's a good thing it's us then." Neji replied as Wan Shi Tong sent a gust of wind at Neji and Lee causing rubble to be picked up and thrown at them as well. Lee span around raising a leg to send a powerful kick into the largest piece of debris, shattering it as he stood on one leg kicking away all the subsequent following pieces. He jumped back as the stronger gusts of wind started to assault his position leaving Neji behind to defend.
"Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin!" He cried beginning to rotate causing his chakra infused wing to diffuse the attacking gusts kicked up by Wan Shi Tong's wings. Neji leapt back as more debris descended on him and he flipped gracefully onto the wall and began running up it to overtake Sokka who had just managed to reach the window.
"How on Earth did you do that?" He questioned mouth hanging open comically.
"I'll explain later" Neji replied. Turning to help pull up Katara. Lee jumped into the air to deliver a spinning kick to deflect a piece of wood from reaching them. When the window was cleared Lee leapt up onto it and jumped quickly back into the desert as Toph sank down letting the library finally drop below the dunes. Aang observed the situation with Toph collapsed on the ground and Tenten lying down in the sand a few meters away.
"Where's Appa?" The question hung in the air.
"Tenten!" Lee cried hurrying over to her faster than anyone's eyes could follow.
"What happened?" Neji questioned reaching her slightly after Lee.
Tenten looked up groaning. "It was those damn sand benders"
***
With Toph busy holding up the library Tenten could only worry as she did not have the power to help Toph. Instead she stayed with Appa and was there when the Sand gliders turned up.
"What is it now?" Toph questioned hearing Appa's grunt.
"It's the sand benders!" Tenten exclaimed jumping down from her perch on Appa. The sand benders easily cruised near the library before dismounting their sand gliders. After assessing Toph to be no threat as she was pre-occupied they began to encircle Appa and Tenten whilst carrying nets and weighted ropes. Appa roared in response and let out a blast of air bending by slamming his tail down causing three sand benders who were unfortunate enough to be behind him to go flying back several feet and the crashed onto the desert sand. Tenten reached behind her pulling out a scroll and unravelling it quickly causing several kunai to come flying out of it. She span grabbing the kunai from mid air and sent them flying straight towards the ropes piercing some of them. Someone tried to through a net at her instead of Appa and she responded by drawing a tantō out of her scroll and slashing through the net with ease. Whilst she was distracted a man through a weighted net over Appa. Tenten spun and through senbon straight across, piercing the ropes that made up the net, but not harming Appa. In response Appa sent out a blast of air bending at a sand bender trying to sneak up on Tenten's blind spot. A sand bender raised his arms and swept them to his sides causing a blast of sand to erupt from the ground aimed at the two fighters.
"Don't make me put this down!" Toph cried sending a wave of earth to counter, but quickly had to turn around to grab the library as it lurched down quickly.
"Crap... It's just like fighting multiple Gaaras" Tenten cried sending a few shuriken at the sand bender incapacitating him. Another sand bender burst out of the sand behind Tenten striking down with his fists causing Tenten to spin and send a barrage of senbon at him knocking him down. Appa roared again sending out another wave of air knocking more of their assailants to the ground.
Two sand benders sent out waves of sand at Tenten whilst more threw nets and ropes at Appa. The two fighters may have been stronger, but they were fighting in an unfamiliar environment against a foe that outnumbered them. Whilst Tenten dealt with her attackers Appa could only defend against some of the entrapments stopping them as more fell onto him from his blind spots.
"No, stop sinking!" Toph cried in desperation as she could only watch... at least in a manner of speaking whilst sending out random blasts of sand and earth.
"Appa no!" Tenten cried turning from her opponents to help Appa sending throwing stars to clear the ropes and other bindings. Whilst she was doing this she left her back unprotected letting a wave of sand impact on her back followed by more blasts as the sand benders tried to exploit the weakness. Tenten turned teeth ground together. She tried to place two scrolls on the ground in preparation of rising twin dragons, but the sand benders encircled her, skating across the sand sending wave after wave of attack at her causing her to leap out of the way, not letting her pull off her more powerful attacks, or summon more tools. A rope slammed into her as she leapt out of the way of a sand column sending her sprawling to the ground. As she struggled up another rope flew at her head. She rolled out of the way and pushed herself up on her fists only to have a sand bender kick her from behind. Appa was now tiring and was covered in ropes and nets and was soon unable to move. Tenten sent more shuriken at Appa and managed to cut some of the ropes, whilst other projectiles missed and simply scattered harmlessly into the sand. Tenten could no longer risk throwing weapons near Appa as in her weakened state she was more likely to hit him and even if that chance was still very low it was not worth it, at least until her head cleared more from after receiving a blow. She threw more senbon at her targets around her hitting two and causing them to plummet into the dunes. Two others though still circled around her, skating as if they were on ice. They sent simultaneous blasts of sand at her causing a hasty dodge as Tenten leapt into the air. She was brought down by a rope which slapped hard onto her back. Another rope whipped into the back of her head causing her to fall to the sand and stay down, looking groggily up.
A sand bender glanced at her, but believing her to be finished he left her and went to help out his fellow men attach Appa to the back of their gliders.
"No! I'm sorry Appa." Toph cried with a few tears dropping down her face. "I'm sorry Appa, Tenten."
***
"APPA!" Aang cried out in pure bestial rage and despair.
"What do we do now?" Katara asked turning towards Neji and Lee and their prone comrade.
Bonus
"Welcome to question corner number two! I am your youthful host Rock Lee!"
"And I'm Tenten this time we have an answer to our question last week as sumbmitted by reviewer: Puppetplay"
"The answer is: Shinobi aren't supposed to show emotion. But they are put into teams of three, which usually entice some form of friendship. Friendship is not an emotion. Friends make you stronger by pushing you farther. So thank you Puppetplay."
"Our question this week is: What happens when the Hokage monument runs out of room?"
"Neji?"
"This time it's simple. They just perform an earth style jutsu to add more room to the mountain. This also occurs whenver a new face is added."
"Really Neji?"
"Yes. Take Tsunade's case. Before Naruto left the village the rock face next to the forth's head was behind him, yet when Tsunade's head was added her face was level with his. For this to happen when the face is sculpted from the rock more rock will have been needed to make them level."
"Thank you Neji for that most youthful answer."
Question: Answered.