And we're back, with the last chapter of Book 2 - Earth! (yaaayyyy, wooooo! bout time...)
Anyway from the next chapter we're into the third act of The Last Airbender, Fire. So should be fun. Also as a note, Ember Island Players... I'm looking forward to this chapter... in honour of the episode not only will the four ninja get to appear in it with commentary, but I'll also be making fun of myself, the process behind making this and getting inspiration from reviews and criticisms to make fun of this fanfic, hopefully I won't insult myself too badly...
As always I own nothing, except for some cheeky sound nins that have been masquerading in my notes as missing nin...
Tales of Ba Sing Se - Shikamaru
Branches cracked underfoot as the three shadows leapt through the forest. Their eyes focusing on the clearing ahead, their objective. Leaves rustled and branches creaked as the three figures landed on the wood. Perched and swaying for a moment as the scanned the nearby area warily. The pineapple haired one was the first to appear on the swaying grass of the clearing. Walking past the moss strewn rocks as he moved through the beams of light streaking through the tree top canopy. He approached the decaying corpse of a sound ninja, dirt and earth strewn over him, offering up a shallow grave that wolves and other creatures had been raiding.
He felt the rush of wind as his two team mates arrived, Ino flicking her hair over her shoulder.
"What happened here?" she asked, looking around, taking in the marks of the conflict along with the corpse, the sound symbol on his head band.
"Not sure" Choji replied. "But I think it's safe to say that Team Guy were the winners."
"In that case where are they now?"
Choji didn't have an answer and silence descended on the clearing.
Shikamaru crouched down, looking at the scroll. He adopted his thinking pose as he tried to reconstruct what could have happened. Zoning out the comments of his team mates as he did so. A few minutes passed in tense silence before his eyes opened again, focusing back onto the scroll sitting innocently in front of him. The cloth shaking slightly in the wind as he looked it at, a few leaves detaching from the trees around him.
"This scroll looks like a reverse summoning scroll." He mentioned to his team mates. "They must have beaten the enemy ninja and then be caught up in it, likely in the back lash of the sound nin's death removing all the control from it." He pointed at scorch marks on the fingers of the skeleton ninja.
"How do we figure out where it goes then?" Ino spoke up.
"The easiest way would be to use it ourselves, but that adds risk." Choji replied, looking between his team mates.
"Either way this mission is troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, looking around.
"We're being watched." He muttered, eyes raking the surrounding scenery.
Choji and Ino adopted battle positions as Shikamaru hung back.
A few ninja dropped out of the trees, sound insignia on their headbands. A man with cropped black hair and a scar running across his face approached them.
"Now what do we have here?" he asked, hefting his two military picks. "Little Konoha runts playing at being ninja." He paused and looked at Ino. "Though we could get some good gold from the blonde"
Laughter and jeers were heard from behind him, but any further cries were cut short as the leader was forced to bring up one of his picks, the blunt metal almost buckling as it strained against one of Choji's enlarged fists. Ino jumped forward, aiming at the perverted bandit, but was intercepted as another of them leapt into the air, a lance thrusting forwards toward her. She grabbed the end and flipped up, trying to launch a kick towards the bandit backing up their leader, but she was forced back when he spun the lance round, the steel blade whirling around and forcing her back. She launched a couple of kunai at him, but with two swift motions he send the metal throwing weapons flying away harmlessly.
Shikamaru stepped back, ducking under a wild punch from one of the remaining missing ninjas. Jumping to the side as Choji sent the leader flying towards him, bowling over a few of his other men.
The leader righted himself and slammed his picks down, the blades piercing the earth before cracks appeared. Rushing towards Shikamaru and Choji, forcing them to jump out of the way as earth exploded out from the fissures. One of moss covered rocks shattered and a couple of trees started to fall. Shikamaru was about to launch his own attack when the scroll nearby started to glow again.
The sound nin made for it, with Shikamaru and his team following suit, deciding that if the sound nin wanted the glowing artefact, they definitely needed to grab it first. The lance user flipped it up, letting the leader pluck it out of the air as the light became blinding. Shikamaru sent a shadow tendril out, rushing towards the missing nin, the light of the scroll dissipating slightly as the men held it, allowing the shadow to reach them.
At that moment a sudden gust of wind burst out around the clearing and just as suddenly as it arrived it was gone, taking the two sound nin and Shikamaru with it. Ino, Choji and the remaining ninja paused for a few seconds, taking in what had just happened.
The sound nin recovered and went for the scroll, wanting the bounty on it, before Choji's enlarged limbs smashed into them, driving them back as Ino went to secure the scroll. Four of Konoha's next generation had been transported somewhere because of it, and she was determined to keep a hold of it to prevent anyone stopping them from coming back.
The crashing of waves against creaking wood woke Shikamaru up. Sun glaring down on him, forcing him to raise a hand to shield his eyes.
"He's awake!" He heard from nearby. He blearily sat up, blinking the fatigue from his eyes. He took in his surroundings as a boy, around the same age as him approached. He was on a ship, a reasonably sized one as well with green sails, though he did not recognise the symbol on them. Looking around he could see caverns and mountains, trees and foliage littering the terrain and it didn't take a genius to deduce that he was on a lake and not on the sea.
"Hi my name is Chi" the boy spoke, extending a hand to Shikamaru. He had mousey brown hair and wore long green robes.
"Shikamaru" he replied, grasping the hand and allowing the other teen to pull him up. "Where am I?" he asked, glancing around at the other weary travellers on the ship. All wearing assorted shades of green and brown and beige.
"You must have had your head hit hard by the Fire Nation" Chi replied, offering an apologetic smile. Shikamaru repressed his reaction to the mention of Fire Nation, being all too familiar to the Land of Fire. He heard Chi ramble on a bit, picking up the needed facts whilst wondering where the scroll had taken him. Since he didn't recognise anything he figured it must have been a long way and from the clear signs of a refugee ship, and the mention of Fire Nation, he decided it would be best to keep up an appearance of amnesia.
His attention snapped back to Chi as he heard him ask if he'd been listening. He gave a quick apology, saying he had a head ache and allowed Chi to lead him back under deck, to the kitchen and dining area where he introduced him to his friends. They told him they had been travelling in a convoy to Ba Sing Se to attend university there, but had been attacked by a Fire Nation raid. They had managed to stumble across the caverns after running away from more bandits. Apparently after casting off they had seen Shikamaru floating in the water. He had been fished out by some of the Earth Kingdom soldiers and then left to their care, saying they had found him so it was their responsibility. Apparently they thought he was from one of the outlying Earth Kingdom villages due to his jackets colour and symbol. Having nothing better to offer them Shikamaru agreed, but said which one was still fuzzy whilst wondering about how he could be trusted so readily over the colour of his clothing.
He sat through the teens going over the history of the Earth Kingdom and the world, drawing in any and everything that sounded helpful, thanking his luck that at least in this troublesome place he'd landed right within potential students, and history and geography students at that. Easily catching up on the history of the place he asked about the university. Figuring that a place of learning in a capital city would be a great place to learn not only of a possible way home, but of finding the missing team Guy.
He chatted with the teens more, absorbing all he could before the ship docked. They were hustled off the boat by the guards and were soon challenged by security officials. The group managed to get through the security checks surprisingly painlessly, a quickly drawn up genjutsu giving him a pass card to get through the security checks. Soon he was in a carriage, being drawn by what was announced to be an ostrich horse, towards the university.
Soon the towering, green tiled building came into view and the carriage joined others, moving past the heavy, wooden, emerald green gates. The carriage pulled up to a long hall, built from beige stone with the rich green roof contrasting against the paler walls. Golden handles were pulled by guards, wearing a variety of green robes and Shikamaru followed the rest of the would-be students into the hall. Sturdy oaken desks lined the hall, several rows reaching out to the head of the hall, where a podium was erected with a long table, filled with academics, greens and beiges clothing them, brown and black hair giving way to grey.
A scholar approached the front of the hall, coughing slightly to clear his throat before announcing to the hall.
"Welcome potential students to Ba Sing Se University!" he paused for a moment.
"I'm sure you've all had a long and hard journey to get here, but it's not quite over yet." The possible students gathered in front of the hall groaned.
"To prove yourselves ready and worthy to study at our fine institution you must first pass one final exam." He motioned to the academics behind him, wooden blocks holding parchment in front of them, detailing what they taught.
"You must approach the academic for the course you want and ask them for an exam paper, then we will test your common sense and knowledge." He smiled. "Don't worry, so long as you get forty percent we can let you study here."
The students surged forwards, Shikamaru letting out a muttered "How troublesome" as he approached the table. It wasn't worth the effort to push and shove so he ended up being seated last, a paper to test his knowledge on history and war lay on the desk in front of him.
Lao was marking late into the night. His auburn, now greying hair glinting in the lantern light as the candle threatened to burn itself out. He sighed as he turned another paper over, another potential student for his class, all with the same theory and ideas. He had hoped that this time he might get someone different, someone to start who could challenge and offer up experience, with the war going on it was surprising that most students only came with theoretical knowledge with no experience.
He opened the new paper, instantly noticing that barely any of the paper had been filled in. The short answer questions had been finished, with not a mistake contained within, but it was the longer questions where things became interesting. The writing was different, someone who didn't offer up the same ideas as himself or other Earth Kingdom academics. This prospective student had ideas that none of the others had considered. He flicked through the rest of the paper, noting the majority of blank pages. Everything contained within he rated as being of perfect quality, the short answers correct and the longer questions written well and with informed arguments and strategies. They were concise he had to admit, but good. He started tallying the marks, wondering if the student had run out of time, but it was when he calculated the mark as being exactly forty percent he had to wonder.
Student who ran out of time? Or student who had figured out exactly what he needed to do. Lao scratched his head, part of him thought perhaps the student was just lucky that what he knew had been enough to get through the exam. He knew deep down though, that that wasn't true. There was no way a students could get forty percent like this and not know what they were doing, it was almost as if he'd figured out exactly what he'd needed to do in order to pass and then stopped.
He turned to the front page, checking the name, lazily scrawled there. Shikamaru Nara… this one would be interesting.
A month had passed since arriving here. Chi paid rapt attention to Lao as he lectured on, but Shikamaru simply propped his head up with his hand and slumped slightly. Lao had learned to simply ignore the lazy student in this state, having for the first two weeks tried to catch him out, but he'd soon given up when Shikamaru had manoeuvred his way out of the battle of the minds. Chi and the other friends Shikamaru had picked up berated him on the lazy way he attended classes and assessments, but Lai didn't mind as much. He knew that he should be striving to push the young mind, but at the same time in the one to one meetings he'd had with him, he always seemed to be doing fine.
He couldn't question his knowledge on the subjects, perhaps meeting his expectations a bit too much as he seemed to have a bit too much experience when it came to battle, though he never joined in with the others when earth bending. Perhaps it wasn't as strange as he made it out to be, but it was a change when all the other students were benders.
Class ended and Shikamaru rose, bidding goodbye to his friends, telling them he'd meet them later, Chi getting annoyed as the others laughed and shrugged their shoulders at him, used to his weird behaviour now. The shadow used made his way to the library, enjoying the cool air as he strode within. He was tempted to find his usual place to nap, but he did need to make some progress. Instead he gathered up more reference books, books on the spirit world and old theories on spirit energy as well as more contempory studies of bending.
He quickly made his way up to the roof, ignoring the locked door at the top of the stairs, simply decided to go out of the window onto one of the tiered green roofs. Dark emerald shone beneath his feet as he jumped up the layers, soon finding himself on the top level, books strewn out around him. The perfect spot for research, surrounded by books, no one to bother him and if needs be he could simply pause to cloud watch.
He spent the rest of the day up on the roof. Reading through the self-study time and cloud watching through the lecture he accidently on purpose forgot to go to. Only when the sun was going down did he move, scooping up all the books and hopping off the roof, landing lightly further down and dropping back into the library. Depositing all the books back into their proper places and leaving, heading for a local pub for food, not feeling like going back to the dorm yet.
He ordered his food, the stipend offered by the university allow him to afford a reasonable meal, outside of the campus. Though since he didn't spend his money on much else he could afford to eat out more than the rest of the students.
It was here however, that Lao ran into him, sitting next to him and ordering his own food and drink before talking to him, without looking at him.
"Didn't see you at this afternoon's lectures today Shikamaru…" he paused to take a swig of his drink as it was placed down in front of him. "… again".
Shikamaru, let out a grunt as he carried on with his meal. "I got caught up in self-study again" He replied.
"You won't pass if you keep missing lectures, it does count against you" replied Lao, his meal arriving surprisingly quickly. "It would be a shame if that intellect of yours went to waste."
Shikamaru didn't reply to that straight away, choosing to carry on with his meal instead. He eventually carried on the conversation, trying to turn it away from his attendance and levels of attention when he did. Eventually when both meals were long gone and the moon was well and truly in the sky did Lao offer up a deal.
"You know, I was a rather competitive Pai Sho player a few years ago." He let the statement hang in the air for a while, before continuing. "If you beat me at it, best two out of three then I'll mark your attendance down for today, as you'll have proven you tactical mind" he looked at his student. Shikamaru finished his drink and looked over at his teacher. "What's Pai Sho?"
Lao blanked… this could be interesting indeed…
Lao stared, mouth agape as his student out manoeuvred him again, claiming victory for the third time in a row. For someone who had apparently never played the game before, he had certainly done well at it, outplaying him over and over again. He looked at his students face, realising this was one of the only times he'd seen his student really look like he was engaging.
"So I'll get the marks for this afternoon then?" he asked tidying up the board.
"Yes of course" replied Lao, "though now that I know how good you are at this I'm going to have to play you again."
"Of course, but how troublesome" he muttered, though this time Lao could tell he didn't really mean it"
"Though I have to wonder teacher, if you've heard of Shogi?"
The next month devolved into a flurry of lectures, research, cloud watching and game playing. Lao inviting his other Pai Sho playing friends to challenge Shikamaru, all of them loosing. Ba Sing Se University itself also attracted the attention of its own anthropology department as Shogi soon took off as a game on campus.
Eventually the annual tournament was announced at the University. The engineering departments, opening their doors for local smiths and tinkerers to come and compete for scholarships. Of interest to Shikamaru however was the Pai Sho tournament, with a smaller Shogi tournament as well for the first time. He flew through both the Pai Sho and Shogi opening rounds, easily finding his way into the finals. They were to be held another day however, so he found himself wandering around campus. He ended up back on top of the library, watching clouds yet again when the sounds coming from below caught his attention. Looking down he saw the engineering department's tournament in full swing. He would have ignored it and gone back to cloud watching, but a familiar figure caught his eye. She was with another girl, but there was no mistaking it, Tenten was in Ba Sing Se. He smiled to himself, figuring that the engineering competition would have made her appear.
He didn't have time to greet her however as Chi and his friends appeared, dragging him off to congratulate him on his victories and when he looked again Tenten was being dragged off with her own friend.
Still now that he knew that she was in Ba Sing Se he could easily track her down again. Not only that, but he was sure that if she was in Ba Sing Se, her teammates would be nearby as well. He wasn't immune after all to the great university rumour mill. Hearing stories of the Avatar and his team mates, three of which had sounded very familiar to him.
Their conversation shushed as two figures entered the pub they were in, everyone suddenly pulling up their guards as the presence of the two new pub goers hit them. Everyone knew who they were… or at least what they were. Dai Li. Though no one would mention that out loud. Shikamaru on the other hand pricked up his ears. He'd encountered a few in his time in Ba Sing Se, and his laziness had been a great mask for him when eavesdropping on their hushed conversations. He knew the Avatar was in Ba Sing Se and he also knew his teammate where with him. He had also heard that the avatar's bison was missing, but he needed to know more, more about the Avatar and more about the Dai Li.
His friends however finished their drinks and rushed him out, though he made a mental note that now was the time to move. He knew nothing would stop the avatar when he went to find his bison, and he didn't need his IQ to deduce that the Dai Li had the bison and were using it to control the Avatar.
He couldn't help but shake the overwhelming feeling that soon team Avatar was going to clash with the Dai Li… Yes now was definitely the time to make his move. His letter would surely have been intercepted by now, but he would rather its contents remained unknown.
Night descended on the buildings in the upper ring, though the light and movement and music from the entertainment buildings of the ring made a valiant effort to counter the oncoming darkness.
Shikamaru skulked in the shadows though, moving swiftly as he made his way through the streets. The gate guards had been just as terrified as the other citizens by the Dai Li uniforms and it had been easy enough to acquire one, from a now deeply sleeping agent in the middle ring.
He eventually made it to the government buildings. The patrols stepping up a considerable amount and he was glad of the shadows, making it so he could flit from alleyway to alleyway, rooftop to rooftop without anyone spotting him. He reached an area he knew was frequented by Earth Kingdom generals. He ditched the robes in an alleyway, preferring his standard black clothes and green vest, less fabric to get in the way whilst fighting and moving.
He watched on as the generals emerged, smiling to himself, it was amazing what you could pick up when people where drinking and playing games amongst friends. The loose tongues of officials and academics had been most helpful as he had picked up all the information needed.
He slunk away, moving around the nearby buildings, trying to find the one he wanted. The Dai Li would be clever, their building, or buildings as he'd heard conflicting stories, would be around here somewhere. Hidden of course, unassuming, but still in a place where they could easily gain access to all other facets of government.
He moved to the rooftops, circling around, keeping an eye out for any agents in the nearby area. He cursed, wishing he had a Hyuga, or Inazuka with him. Tracking was not a specialty of his. He paid no attention to the drunks staggering through the streets as he approached the edge of the governmental decorated buildings. Wondering if he would have to back track through the area again. He paused however, upon seeing a couple of cloaked individuals moving through the streets, winding through the alley ways of the entertainment buildings. He followed on the roofs, avoiding the beacons of light atop the roofs and eventually he dropped down, emerald tiles clinking underneath him as he peered round the corner. A neatly styled inn was in front of him, lavish gardens circling it before earth rose up, the building itself sitting on top of a mossy brown pillar, grey, moss strewn rocks littered the area around it and a small stream with a fox scarer rocking away as the water cascaded around the bamboo.
He watched as the robed figured made their way around the gardens, under the chiselled, stone staircase and into the darkness. He crouched on the roof top of the inn he stood on top of, the noise from the building concealing his own as he moved closer. His eyes widened as he made out the rock on the pillar under the stair case moving shifting out of the way as the agents quickly entered. The stone quickly shutting again. The inn he stop on made far too much noise for the sound of earth moving to be heard, and the high class inn and tea room above it would be the perfect cover during the day for the men to be roaming around the gardens and area.
He grimaced however. Finding his destination had solved one problem, but he had just encountered another. Namely, getting in. He crouched wondering what to do when he saw two shadows shift, the light from the inn casting long shadows through the gardens and he immediately knew what to do. He hopped off the roof silently, running to crouch behind one of the neatly trimmed hedges of the headquarters garden. He rounded a corner and quickly struck down one of the shadows. The shifting of fabric and crumpling of his companion startled the other agent, who quickly rushed forwards towards Shikamaru's position. He managed to lay eyes on the shadow ninja before stopping stock still.
The agents eyes widened with fear as he panicked, desperately trying to move to no avail. Shikamaru smiled.
"Shadow possession complete" he announced, turning and adopting a position he'd seen Chi adopt hundreds of times. He went through the earth bending motions, using the agents fear and desperate attempts to escape to access his bending, forcing him to open up the path forward. A hand made its way up to the agent's throat as the earthen door shifted out of the way and unconsciousness soon claimed the agent, slumping down to join his companion in slumber.
He moved in, quickly and silently. Moving swiftly from one room to the other, ignoring all the quarters and… unfortunates contained within the Dai Li's upper ring headquarters. He moved through the impressive library, finding the files room. He spent a good amount of time propped up in the shadows at the top of bookcases, flicking through the information contained within the room. Soon finding the location of the Avatar's bison as well as finding a map of the compound, finding the leaders, Long Feng's office. He heard a couple of agents rush by, muttering hurriedly about a break in at Lake Laogai. Shikamaru new that that would be his friends and the Avatar. He swung down after the agents left. Moving to Long Feng's office. The files on the Avatar sitting obviously on his desk, the man himself presumably having headed out to the Lake. He quickly took in the pile of documents, including letters and notices to the Avatar and friends. He smiled as he made sure the dear seal was still on his letter, the chakra he had used to seal it had not been broken yet so he knew Long Feng hadn't managed to read it. He quickly made his way back out of the facility, ignoring the earthen door he'd come in on and instead opted to move through a trap door into the lavish inn and tea house above him. Picking the locks easily and soon leaving the area as if he'd never had come.
Now all he had to do was wait for the avatar's victory.
The day of the final began. He'd gotten to the tournament early, much to his chagrin as he hadn't had much time to rest after his night time activities. He glared at Lao and Chi and silently cursed them as they smiled back and waved. The current Ba Sing Se Pai Sho champion sat opposite him as they prepared the match. He couldn't help but wonder why he had to be here so early if they weren't going to begin yet. He swung his head back, looking up, almost enviously at the clouds rolling lazily overhead. A small dot was moving across the sky and he briefly wondered what it was before the announcer finally spoke up, letting everyone know that the match was about to begin.
That was before the thundering crash came from the Earth King's palace. Every started up in panic and the announced quickly went from announcing the game, to helping people calm down and sending them away to dorms and other safe places, mentioning that the game would be postponed.
Shikamaru grinned, looks like his message would be with the others sooner than he had expected.
He made his way to the library, hopping onto the roof and trying to catch a glimpse of the palace, though beyond smoke and dust clouds he couldn't make anything out. Laying down he figured he could get in a bit of cloud watching before they came calling.
He waited for another half an hour, before he saw the monorail moving, Earth Kingdom heralds moving into the streets to announce that everyone was safe and to go about their business. He caught a glimpse of the Earth King as the monorail passed by, though at the distance he couldn't be sure. The sky bison following after the train was much more noticeable however and after another hour of cloud watching he saw the bison high in the sky, heading towards one of the outer walls.
Figuring that Long Feng's time would soon be up he hopped back onto his feet, swinging back down into the library, waving at the bemused librarian as he did so, who was long used to him by now. He made his way deep into the shelves on spirit theories, knowing no one else would be going there. He picked a nearby chair and slumped down into it, leaning back and closing his eyes. Enjoying his rest for around an hour before he heard the sound of footsteps approaching his position. He got up, yawning slightly and leant back on a nearby shelf. A few minutes later he saw Neji, Tenten and Rock Lee turn around the corner.
"Finding you guys was so troublesome"
The lanterns burned long into the night, the wax growing smaller as the piles of books grew larger. The librarian "tutted" at them as she passed, but she was long used to students… well some students spending as much time in the library as possible and left them to it. Lao had left them alone as well after the first hour, having talked to Shikamaru about his studies, his friends and Pai Sho. Letting him know of the final being rescheduled for the next week. Shikamaru knew that Lao was knowledgeable about history of the world in which they found themselves and he had been invaluable in finding more reference material. Neji had seemingly enjoyed the chat as well, though he was pretty sure Lee would rather have been out, practicing the train the body to train the mind approach.
Still they had made a fair chunk of progress, not even Neji could argue against that, though most of the afternoon had been spent recalling the events that team Guy had been through. Shikamaru had given them a quick update on what had been happening back in Konoha, mentioning that team ten had been dispatched shortly after the expected return time for them. They were slightly worried at the thought of the two sound ninja who had been transported, but split up from Shikamaru on arrival, but there was not much they could do about that for now. They had agreed however, that they would have to get rid of them before they left, not wanting to leave them unchecked to wreak havoc on the world.
The night grew deeper and soon they had to leave, deciding that returning to the comfort of their house with added heat and food would be better than trying to sleep in the library. They made their way out and headed towards team Avatar's house in the upper ring, Shikamaru being invited along with them, and whilst the dorm rooms were functional, and would certainly not be accused of softening up the inhabitants, the idea of spending a night, or nights, in a luxurious upper ring house was much more preferable.
They chatted amongst themselves as they passed through the streets. Dirt paths and the soft green grass and trees soon gave way to stone slabbed paths and roads. Trees and bushes lining them before meeting the gateway to the upper ring. Passing through the gate easily at this point they found the darkness of night and the shadows cast by lanterns falling on cobblestone roads. Different shades of greys and browns lined made the road glow in the night's limelight prettily. Green shrubs and trees and neatly cared for gardens lined the paths as they made their way to the residential area where team Avatar resided.
"Looks like you've been having fun" Shikamaru commented as they approached the house, the wall Toph had previously blown out being hastily repaired.
"Our companion Toph was certainly most youthful!" Lee announced, though he kept his voice down to avoid upsetting the neighbours. They moved quickly up the path and into the house, still not fully trusting that the Dai Li had stopped trying to keep tabs on them.
When they entered a girl in blue greeted them.
"Hi Neji, Tenten, Lee." She nodded at them in turn. "Who's your friend?"
Neji indicated towards him.
"This is Shikamaru, one of the best minds of our village" Shikamaru looked round the house, taking in the rich greens and cushions. The division in wealth and standard of living was very noticeable. "Shikamaru, this is Katara, master water bender and friend."
"Pleased to meet you" he announced, moving one hand from his pockets forward, shaking Katara's hand.
"Pleased to meet you, please make yourself at home" she smiled at him. "The others won't be back for a few days so you're welcome to stay here."
The rest of the evening broke down into the five of them talking into the night, with the occasional break for food and drink.
The next couple of days followed a similar pattern. Lee would get up at an insane hour to do his morning workout, then Katara would get up with Tenten and Neji to have breakfast and get ready to head out. After Katara had left and Lee had returned they'd wake up Shikamaru and force him to get up so they could head off to the library.
They would soon be buried within the thick, cool walls of the library. Leather bound tomes surrounding them. They digested books on the spirit world, bending, the avatar and everything else they could find. Emerging for a while at lunch to escape from the dark confines for food and sunlight and to catch up with each other.
They discovered that a major difference here was that people could only take advantage of the surrounding earth chakra, letting them bend their respective element to their will. Who could bend depended on how their chakra coils had developed, allowing them access to the earth chakra, but the lack of spirit meant they were limited to the singular elements, though some theorised that the Avatar had access to large pools of both. This was backed up with the Avatar being the envoy to the spirit world as well, though since no one had ever been able to study the Avatar themselves it was all limited to theories.
The spirit world seemed to be the best bet in getting home. The link was further strengthened in their minds when long forgotten history books mentioned spirits being drawn out or summoned and taking on familiar sounding forms to the summons from back home. The toads Jiraiya was so found of summoning were even mentioned, with accurate descriptions and again, they found some theories that stated that for such weird animals to appear, or weird for their world… singular animals being the norm for the ninja's, a further world had to exist beyond the spirit realm, but no one knew how to get there. Large amounts of energy was speculated to be the key, but even the most powerful benders would struggle to make heads or tails of it.
The team figured that the spirit chakra must be the key, the reason why they had greater control and the ability to generate the elements out of nowhere to a greater extent, but got tired more easily from the extra control. If they could recreate the runes on the scroll, with the avatar's help they would likely be able to make their own transport scroll and make their way back.
Satisfied with the work thus far, Shikamaru, Tenten and Lee dragged Neji out, stating that they couldn't spend all their time in the library. Hence the early afternoon went by in a blur of training and cloud watching before the team met up again at a restaurant in the upper ring, enjoying a wide selection of roasted chimeras on the grill. Early evening saw them leave the establishment, making their way back to the house, noting that with the aid of earth bending, the wall repairs were almost finished. The slightly more pressing thing they noticed however was the lack of Katara when they returned. This was made more noticeable when She didn't return as the night grew, leaving them going to bed wondering if she had been kept by the generals.
Her lack of presence in the morning however rang far too many warning bells, causing even Shikamaru to get up earlier without prompting.
Another day in the library was ignored, in favour of exploring the city and keeping an eye out for their missing teammate. Shikamaru and Neji explored the upper ring, asking the Earth King and his generals about Katara, but none of them seemed to know where she had disappeared to, thinking she had been staying at home with them, taking a break from the planning.
Their suspicions further grew when they heard that the Kyoshi warriors were largely absent from the capital. Only three had been seen and they kept a very low profile. This made the two ninja instantly suspicious. Loyal warriors to the Earth King, would surely have been seen more, and since they were friends with Team Avatar they would have expected at least a visit, or to even have seen them.
It all smelt of something very wrong and soon the four ninja were combing the city, sometimes pulling a Kakashi and reading a book whilst they did so, most of the time trying to find out more information on their missing friend and warriors. Most people hadn't seen or heard from either Katara or the Kyoshi warriors. Though they had found out about another Dai Li hide out, leading deep underground.
They had to pause their investigation of that base however, with no earth bender to open it up, or help them down it they would struggle far too much, better to wait for Toph and Aang's return then force that route at the moment.
Instead they opted to break back into the upper ring Dai Li headquarters.
The slunk in easily enough, having a team of four made it much easier to dispatch the scouts on the outside, even with the increased guard load.
Tenten swung down on ninja wire, plucking a couple of agents, trying to blend in as customers in the garden, up into the air, quickly knocking them out. The staircase shadows locked the two armoured men there in place, leaving them struggling furiously as hands rose from the darkness to knock them out. The gentle fist served Neji well as he made his way swiftly through the hedge maze gardens, knocking guards down left and right, unable to move before Lee quickly knocked them out, punching open the earthen door at the end.
The smoke escaping from the entrance worried them and they hurried up, moving swiftly through the corridors, Tenten and Lee standing guard at the entrance to the compound and the library respectively, making sure the escape route would always be free.
They saw a bonfire erected in the large domed chamber before the library, Lee's speed helping to wipe out the guards in the chamber quickly before Neji and Shikamaru entered the library. Agents scurrying around the room. The two ninja quickly jumped up and onto nearby bookcases. An agent scurried out carrying an armful of books, only to let out a squark of pain as Lee slammed into him, knocking him out cold and saving the documents.
Shikamaru took one end of the room, working round where he had seen before, grabbing at official looking documents before agents could grab them, though it was slightly unfair when he dropped down in front of surprised guards, paralysed by the shadow linking to theirs, immobilising them.
Neji instead opted to move behind the scurrying guards, quickly dispatching them with a flurry of his hands, sending the men crashing down hard onto the stone below. The emerged back to see Lee surrounded by Dai Li reinforcements, though the fact none of them had ever managed to stay conscious enough to actually summon reinforcements meant that Lee had easily taken out the trickle of agents walking in to interrupt their raid. Shikamaru Lee on ahead carrying the Dai Li's important plans and documents with him. The two remaining ninja moved through the shadows to Long Feng's old office. They paused as they neared the room, hiding in the shadows, letting themselves be concealed completely as they heard voices, female voices in the next room.
"I can't believe you actually use this an office, it's so dark and depressing." A surprisingly cheerful voice said.
"I like it" a more sombre voice replied.
"You would" the cheerful voice again.
"Quiet you two" a more authoritative voice spoke up. "Now I've been through a lot of trouble to get you out, so you and your Dai Li better make good on your side of the deal"
"Of course" a male voice this time. "The Dai Li will help with your conquest of Ba Sing Se"
Shikamaru looked at Neji, who nodded. They couldn't take them now, the surrounding earth of the closed environment favoured their enemy more, especially with their almost unlimited amount of energy to bend material at them. Breaking in had also used more chakra then they had intended, it made more sense to fall back and consolidate their position for now, then strike again soon.
They rushed out of the hideout, making it back to the house with their liberated documents quickly. Checking through them for dates, or times so they could warn the Earth King, and importantly have proof. Shikamaru cursed as Momo landed on his shoulder again, playing with his hair yet again.
After a half an hour the door slammed open.
"Where's Katara?" they heard from the girl described to Shikamaru as Toph. "And who's this? You guys have multiplied since I last saw you."
Shikamaru panted slightly, gripping onto Appa tightly for dear life, pumping some of his remaining chakra to his fingers to secure his position. He looked back at the city, fires breaking out as the city fell and panic took hold. Black and red Fire Nation banners soon dropping from towers and buildings, cascading out from the palace of the upper ring. He was filled with a strange melancholy as he realised that he never would get to finish that Pai Sho tournament.