Welcome back everyone for the next installment of Touched by Spirits. I'm excited to get back into it, especially as this chapter we all know things will begin to heat up a little bit. As I said before, Naruto is more or less on the hunt and Korra…she's in store for a little bit of a revelation. I hope you all enjoy, we're going to cover some reviews then dive right in.
Review by Cloud Narukami: Hoping the Lin split will be fixed soon, hate seeing them apart. Loving the story so far keep it up
My Response: She is in the pairing so it will be fixed, but sadly there will be a considerable amount of time before it is. That being said, as for Naruto he wants back together with her badly, as much as he wants to have a family he does love her, but the problem is she loves him as well, and she knows he wants a family which…at least at the moment, she can't provide him.
Review by Rice with Chest-Nuts: yeah, this is interesting and appealing and all... ignoring and skipping the Smut aside, why does every Writer always having difficulties to just change Naruto's hairs to be black like usual Air Nomad? its that simple sir...
this better have a very good explanation here, on why is he the only one having different features, if he really indeed Tenzin and Pema son's…
My Response: I am sorry for you my friend. This fic will continue to have a large amount of lemons as it progresses. As for Naruto with blond hair and blue eyes…I did drop some explanation though not the full reveal at the start of the story, bottom of chapter 1 actually. I also made it very obvious that he is Tenzin and Pema's son… really don't know what you are trying to imply
Review by Deathblade0987: SO! it's 9:30 am and i just binged all 5 of these chapters... I need more...
Seriously though, this fic is absolutely incredible and im super excited looking forward to reading more. know its been a bit since this chapter was posted but still, im a patient guy. Regardless, wonderful job writing this. i really love the character dynamics and the growing threads between them. I know im sort of bouncing around my talking points but really there's just so much to praise. 10/10 top tier work here. Thank you kindly for sharing it with everyone here!
My Response: You're making me blush lol. Anyway I really do appreciate the praise. I know my updates are a bit too few and far between but such is life sadly. I hope you continue to enjoy this story though.
For any of you that wish to join a discord server with readers and writers of fanfiction I have a couple links set aside just for that right here. One to AizenTheGoat's server and the other to a server run by myself, Kiege, and Madlad aka TheChamp123.
Link→ /7x4YFstKcz
Link→ /auc4PQjVtz
Now On to the story!
With a startled scream the man, who could only be described as the most cliche gangster the triple threats had on their payroll, tumbled end over end down the hall of his boss's favorite tea shop.
The actual owner of said teashop had taken refuge behind the small countertop that she served her customers from as her staff fled the building. She had never seen an airbender fight before, really no one had for obvious reasons. The confrontation in her shop seemed pretty unfair in her opinion though. Maybe there had been a bit of truth to the old fire nation propaganda of the Air Nomads being a massive threat to the Fire Nation.
The younger of the two air bending masters native to Republic City was crushing his opponents against the floor with a powerful and continuous gust of wind. The floorboards and even their bones creaked from the pressure building on them and the four men on the floor couldn't manage to get a breath despite being completely engulfed in wind. Again, it was due to the massive pressure pressing down on them courtesy of the air bender in their midst.
"If you are wondering how this works, I'll be blunt guys. Pressure like this is just weak enough not to pulverize you, but it's strong enough that you can't properly work the body and expand your chest for air. I'm going to let you in a second, just before you pass out and then you are going to tell me either, A. Who put your boss up to attacking my factory, or B. Where your boss is so I can politely ask him myself. Option C. is repeating this process over again so try not to slip up and choose that one." Naruto said with a smile that seemed almost predatory.
He felt a bit sick with himself literally torturing these thugs but it was pretty easy to console himself when recalling what they had done to his employees. He relaxed his body and took a ready stance as the wind died away and the four men held on the ground suddenly felt their invisible restraint disappear.
Naruto stood silently and awaited a response to his questions as they gasped and coughed all of them trying to suck in as much air as possible. While they did that he turned his attention to the fifth member of their group. The man had been lucky enough to be over harassing the shopowner for a date and more when Naruto had slammed his friends into the floor.
"You can answer too, you know if you don't want to go through the wall next time." Naruto said.
"Don't tell this asshole anything Li! He won't really hurt us he-" One of the men on the ground began only for Naruto to twist as if punching the ground causing the wind pressure to slam into all four of the men in the center of the room again.
"Do you think I won't hurt you Li? Does it look like I'm stable and calm enough to hold back?" Naruto asked, sharply to the other man. He was really starting to feel that clawing feeling to break these guys apart building up. So familiar to that time when someone had tried to kidnap his sisters.
These men had hurt people he had cared about. Why shouldn't they be hurt too?
He shook his head trying to force down such lines of thought eating at his mind. His focus was on figuring out the one really responsible. The one that pushed the gang into acting so openly against him when they knew he had the police and the government itself backing him.
"Listen. Whoever paid your gang enough to pull this off doesn't care about you or your bosses. They knew this would happen but they are counting on you all keeping your mouths shut and taking the fall entirely. That sound fair to you?" Naruto pressed on.
"Screw you!" Li shouted.
Naruto sighed in annoyance before spinning in place while sweeping his arms up and around himself, sending all of the gang members into a miniature cyclone and through another wall.
"Even if we knew our bosses would kill us for squealing." One of the men wheezed out as he curled up into the fetal position.
"So, tell me where your boss is so I can talk to him myself. He's in the same boat that your whole crew is in." Naruto said.
"Our boss doesn't know anything either man. Really!" Li said as he clutched at his bruised body in agony.
"Then tell me how to get in touch with Zolt. That idiot crossed the line and his client or whoever got him to pull this stunt off with all of you is going to answer for it." Naruto pushed on causing the thugs to share some looks. As expected Li broke.
"Zolt is meeting with a lot of the bosses tonight. Those equalists have been stirring up trouble and they are having a sit down to figure out what to do."
"Li, shut the hell up!" One of the others cried out before a gust of wind bounced his head off of the floor hard enough to knock him unconscious.
"Where at?" Naruto asked Li.
Bolin felt pretty uncomfortable at the moment. He had known that he probably shouldn't take Shady Shin up on his offer, but with so much money being flashed around like it was nothing he had felt like it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
He kept telling himself that as long as everything went smoothly and there was no real need for him and the other guys working as security to do anything then it was fine. Easy money. Free money honestly. Plus no need to tell Mako where it came from. They just needed to get into the tournament and then they could make it big with sponsors or something.
"Relax Bolin. It's just a sit down. Just stand around and look tough. I just gotta talk with Zolt and Gyan. Then I will send you back home to Mako with as much bread as you can carry." Shady Shin said with a hand on Bolin's shoulder.
"Oh, uh thanks Shady Shin but can I get paid in money? I wouldn't mind a little bread I guess. If it's from your cousin Kang's bakery it's gotta be good." Bolin replied.
Shin stared at Bolin for a moment before sighing slightly. "Sure Bolin, no worries."
Shin moved into the center of the room after that. The two other bosses of the triads were already sitting in their seats.
Each of them represented one of the bending elements with their elements essentially forming the gangs that followed under them. That meant that the triads little triumvirate had to have the same representation even if at the end of the day, Lightning Bolt Zolt, as they all called him, was effectively the boss of their entire organization.
That didn't mean he didn't have to answer to his two underbosses from time to time. Shady Shin and his water benders might have been more prone to tow the line that Zolt gave them but Mama Gyan, as the gangsters called her, was perfectly fine with calling Zolt out on every little mistake he made.
Bolin looked at the three crime lords with a mixed bag of emotions. The three of them had all been no name orphans at one point just like himself and Mako and despite being violent criminals they had made something of themselves.
Mama Gyan was practically ancient. Old enough to have been orphaned during the Great War. She was grandmotherly to her followers but extremely brutal when the chips were down. At the moment she seemed pretty pissed off with Zolt's recent actions.
Bolin wasn't really wanting to know anything about what they were saying. There was a reason besides his brawn and bending that made Shin pick him up. Bolin made sure to forget anything that might be considered important to someone and keeping your trap shut tight was something that made people like Shin very appreciative toward you.
Even though he tried to ignore their conversation though, Bolin could tell the triad bosses had managed to land themselves into some seriously hot water. The Equalists were targeting them on one side. Some powerful businessman evidently was tearing through them searching for who ordered a hit on his company, evidently the guy had one killer security force because Shin and Gyan reported at least four of their establishments taking hits and nearly a dozen of their followers in the hospital.
On top of all that, the minor gangs in the city that had been under the Triad's thumb for years could smell blood in the water and were starting to push back against the triple threats wherever they could. Nothing major yet but Shin seemed worried that the smaller gangs might learn from their own past and organize some sort of alliance of gangs to push the old guard out.
There was a lot more specifics that Bolin purposefully kept himself from absorbing but everyone in the building could tell that the Triple Threats were in a crisis and if they were in a crisis then Republic city was in a crisis. That was just how that worked.
Thankfully the sit down was over sooner rather than later. Zolt reassured Shin and Gyan that he had everything under control and that their recent benefactor would help them with the Equalists. After all, in exchange for hitting the glass factory a whole slew of gangsters would be getting early releases for good behavior. Straight from the top.
Gyan had simply said she hoped it was worth it as she and her crew bugged out. Unfortunately Shin told Bolin that they had to hang out for a couple more hours. At least he'd give him a lift home in his Satomobile and pay him a little extra for the trouble.
Bolin did his best to stay out of the way of the triad leaders and their underlings while they handled their daily tasks. It was kind of interesting to see all the gangsters go about their work. They almost seemed like normal office workers at the moment. Counting money, logging expenses and checking budgets. At the center of it all the typically intimidating Zolt sat behind a large desk with a tiny pair of reading glasses on as he read over reports placed neatly on his desk. It was all jarring for the young earth bender.
Not as jarring as the sudden loud and blinding explosions that filled the room seemingly out of nowhere.
Bolin didn't even get a chance to fight back as suddenly he and the others in the building were set upon by chi blockers that paralyzed them in seconds. Even Lightning Bolt Zolt himself was rendered unconscious with a rapid combination of perfectly placed blows and a brutal crack across the back of the head from some sort of electrified baton.
As he wavered in and out of consciousness Bolin felt himself be bound and gagged like the others as Equalists quickly started loading them all into the back of a truck. As it pulled away though he managed to catch sight of his two teammates as they stormed through the backdoor of the Triad Headquarters. It was the last thing he saw outside of the truck before his kidnappers slammed the doors closed and sped away.
A few minutes prior to Bolin being loaded into the truck, Korra and Mako were racing toward the Triad base of operations thanks to a tip from some street urchins that Mako had bribed for info on his brother. It had been a long day of the two of them searching for Bolin, and Mako was starting to get really worried about his younger sibling.
"Ease up Mako." Korra said as the firebender's hands were holding just a bit too tightly to her sides as they rode Naga down the dimly lit streets.
"Sorry. Just a little worried about Bolin. Won't happen again." He replied, easing up his grip on the girl.
"Don't worry about it. Although, I gotta ask why you are so worried. Is he doing a job for them or something? Like criminal stuff?" She asked.
"No, never. I mean the most he would do is stand watch I think, maybe work as a messenger maybe? We used to do those kind of things." Mako said before tensing up slightly again. "Look, it doesn't matter. Bolin is kind of gullible so who knows what they're talking him into."
"Alright, well- woah Naga!" Korra interrupted herself as her polar bear dog suddenly jerked to the side to chase the fire ferret fleeing from it.
"That's Pabu! He's Bolin's pet." Mako shouted.
The little creature scurried up a lamppost before stopping as Korr finally regained control of Naga.
"No! Naga, Pabu is a friend not a snack!" She barked, causing the polar bear dog to sniff the little ferret for a moment before letting it climb onto it's head and across it's body to Mako's shoulders.
"We gotta hurry. Bolin wouldn't leave Pabu alone, something is going on." He said, getting Korra to send Naga charging on toward the Triad base once again.
The pair soon arrived at the Triad headquarters. It was almost eerily devoid of life. No guards, no lookouts, nothing.
"Something's wrong there should be a couple thugs out here keeping watch all the time." Mako said as he and Korra hopped off of Naga's back. He tried to play it quietly, stealthily sliding up beside the doors to avoid anyone seeing him through the windows.
That was not Avatar Korra's style. She simply walked up and booted the door in to reveal…nothing. An empty room that clearly had recently seen some sort of struggle.
"Bolin? You in here?" Mako asked worriedly. He wasn't sure where to look if this lead ended up bad.
Luckily for them, and perhaps unluckily for Bolin a truck engine revving up out back caught both Korra and Mako's attention and the rushed through the building just in time to find a gang of equalists begin to leave with the roughed forms of several triad members and Bolin in the back of a truck. The gangsters and Mako's brother all looked barely conscious and clearly defeated by the equalists.
Korra and Mako wasted no time trying to pursue them, even as the equalists used smoke bombs to try and cover their escape.
"Naga, Come!" Korra shouted.
The pair of benders gave chase from the back of the massive beast while launching attacks after the fleeing motorcycles and truck. Between some creative driving and skill, they avoided everything that Korra and Mako had to throw at them though. Eventually though some of them decided to counter attack. Sliding to a stop they spun around and hurled bolo's at Naga bringing her down into a painful heap and throwing both of her riders off in the process.
Korra and Mako hardly had a chance to regain their bearings before the equalists were attacking them. They practically danced around the bending that the two fighters launched their way. Jumping and spinning they closed the distance until they were face to face with the Avatar and her moody sidekick. Even at hand to hand range, Korra was normally a powerful opponent, but against such skilled chi blockers the Avatar was quickly dismantled and after being trapped in a leg lock she received a quick series of blows along her torso that left her numb on the right side.
Mako fared even worse as his opponent practically played with him, landing quick successive hits that stopped his bending and continuing to force him back to his feet in a pointless attempt to fight back.
Even with half of her body unresponsive Korra remained a dangerous opponent for her adversary to face however. She had been trained her entire life to fight with three of the four bending elements and she proved that those years weren't a waste. She forced her attacker back time and again, but she was already damaged from their first series of blows and barely holding her own. Eventually her foe began to close in and even land some more hits that crippled her bending even further.
As the chi blockers geared up for a final series of blows to end the fight though a blast of wind slammed one into the other and sent them flying back across the plaza that had become the center for their battle. In a fluid motion a familiar airbender dropped from the sky and twisted in a spin as his glider folded away into a staff and kicked up a brutal wall of wind that picked up both chi blockers and blasted them painfully into the brick wall of one of the buildings nearby.
"Are you two alright?" He asked, not turning away from the two equalists he had pinned.
"Naruto, wha- Look out!" Korra shouted as capable arcing with obvious electricity was fired from some sort of launcher by a third biker that had been lying in wait to back up his comrades.
Naruto spun in time to stop the cable from wrapping around himself but in doing so the pressurized wind holding the first two down stopped. They hurled smoke grenades at him and the other benders before jumping on their bikes to try and make a quick get away.
"Oh no you don't!" Naruto said before blasting the smoke away. As he did so he wasn't prepared for the second electrified cable to burst through the clearing smoke and slam into his chest and dropping him in a convulsing mess on the ground.
Kora shouted in shock and raced over to his side to help him. The shock was powerful but still thankfully short. Despite that it was enough to knock the air bender out, with the last thing he recalled being Korra shouting for him to stay awake while he twitched on the ground.
When Naruto came around the sun was up. He was also nowhere near where he had been knocked unconscious at. Instead he was in the park near one of the central fountains sprawled across the back of Korra's ride.
He was the first one to wake up from the little group evidently. The Fire Ferret that was with Korra and her teammate had decided to evidently take a nap on top of him during the night and both Korra and Mako were leaning on one another against Naga's side. The sight had him frowning but he put it out of his mind. None of his business and he really needed to figure out what exactly was going on.
With a slightly less than graceful dismount, Naruto removed himself front he saddle on Naga's back and quickly stretched out to loosen up. His body was aching from the stunner that had hit him the night before but other than that he was in pretty good shape.
Now time for some answers.
"Hey, wake up." He said, lightly kicking the other two benders in the feet causing them to groan and slowly stir awake. After a moment both Mako and Korra noticed their position and split apart with blushes and trying to avoid eye contact.
"Uh, what? Wait, oh yeah Mako that guy will be there soon we should…" Korra began stopping when she noticed the confused and expectant look from Naruto.
"Hey! You're awake!" Korra said happily.
"Yeah. Thanks I think, although I am kinda confused as to why we are in the park right now. Also what guy?" Naruto asked.
"Oh, wow we actually have so much to explain." Korra said as she stood up and stretched, similar to how Naruto had only a moment ago. Not noticing the subtle attempt by Naruto and Mako to not stare as she stretched out.
"Can it wait? We should find Bolin as quickly as possible." Mako said as he joined the other two in standing.
"Nope. I need some information. I go looking for that Zolt bastard and instead find you two getting knocked around by some equalists while some more of their little group run off with the guy I was actually there for. I get zapped and suddenly I'm in the park…kinda need some information here before any of us do anything." Naruto said sternly.
"We don't have time for this-" Mako said as he made to move around Naruto only for Naruto to place a hand tightly on his shoulder.
"Look kid, I think we want pretty much the same thing but I need some info if I am gunna help. Help me, help you, help us both. You know?" Naruto asked, getting the other boy to blink blankly at him.
"Kid? You're like a year older than me, maybe two." He mumbled only to be ignored by the blond as Korra began explaining the previous day for her and Mako to Naruto.
Mako was a bit annoyed but he was at least pleased that the blond was pretty much handling the entire situation with a no nonsense attitude. He could work with that. Especially when he shared his reasons for being after the same truckload of triads.
"So your brother managed to get swept up in this whole thing over a bit of money he needed for the tournament. That is some seriously bad luck. We should talk after we sort this whole thing out though. I can't really fund you by myself after Zolt pulled his stunt with my factory off, but I know some folks that would probably be happy to sponsor you alongside me." Naruto said nonchalantly as they made their way toward the man that Korra had mentioned trying to drum up support for Amon and his followers.
Mako and Korra were a bit stunned but after a moment of hesitation Korra had picked the blond up in a backbreaking hug and squealed. Getting an awkward wheezing chuckle from him in the process.
"You would really do that?" Mako asked a bit unsure of Naruto still. He'd heard that the young bending master was both a businessman and a philanthropist but this was a lot more personal than anything he could have imagined.
"Sure if you have Korra vouching for you and your brother, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. We should really focus on the task at hand though." Naruto said with a shrug.
"Oh, right. That's the guy there. He was handing out fliers and like talking through a megaphone and stuff about the equalists." Korra said before pointing at the man standing on a table and shouting for equality.
The trio casually walked up to him until he noticed Korra and the other two benders with her.
"You again!" he cried. "You cannot silence me, Avatar!"
Korra proceeded to do just that as she knocked the megaphone out of his hands and smashed it across the ground.
"Woah Korra relax." Naruto said as he placed himself between the Avatar and the man she was about to start assaulting.
"Let me give this a try. We can't just go around manhandling average citizens. If this guy was one of Amon's soldiers or a Triad it would be different, but lets just try to compromise here a bit. What do you say?" Naruto turned toward the mouthpiece for the last part.
"I have nothing to say to benders!" He roared in Naruto's face causing the blond to frown.
"Well I tri-" He began only to pause as he reached over and snatched up a flier. He narrowed his eyes at it.
"Hey you can't take that! That's for the people not for benders like you!" The man screamed only for Korra to finally have enough and send him tumbling down as she sent the table flying with earth bending.
Naruto almost casually bent the wind to snag a fistfull of the fliers as he noticed a pattern on the back.
"This is really cliche. Who are they fooling with this?" He asked no one while quickly piecing together the map for the revelation's location.
"What is it?" Korra asked.
"Tell you in a moment, we need to head out now, some of Lin's boys are coming and I am pretty sure they are supposed to pick me up right now. Same for you." Naruto said as he grabbed Korra's hand and dragged her after him while Mako ran to keep up.
"What do you mean?" Korra asked.
"Well you have sort of been missing for a day and are the Avatar, and I have maybe been hitting a bunch of triad hangouts over the last day or so." Naruto admitted a bit sheepishly.
"You what?" Mako asked, shocked.
"Like I said, I've been trying to get a hold of Zolt. He and I need to have a conversation." Naruto said flatly.
"A conversation or a fight?" Korra asked.
"Not exactly mutually exclusive." Naruto said as they all hopped onto Naga's back and took off away from the park.
It hadn't taken them long to figure out exactly where in the city the 'revelation' was to occur once they had all the pieces properly placed. The trickier part would be getting into Amon's rally. A change of clothes and a couple hats and Korra and Mako could slip right in the front door, not Naruto though.
If the hair didn't give him away the tattoos would. Korra didn't really do the whole makeup thing and even if they covered his arms, hands, and legs, his forehead still had the bright blue arrow clearly present on it. Unless he wore a mask and managed to get in that way he would need to find another route into the abandoned foundry that was housing Amon and his listeners.
So after some strategizing Naruto and his accomplices decided that simple was probably best. While Korra and Mako entered in the front using rather basic disguises, Naruto would instead come in from above. After all, if you have the advantage of flight, why not abuse it?
It didn't take him long to find a way into the building either. The old construction had plenty of rickety rusted metal spots and weakened boards that a liberal use of some rather sharp wind made it almost as easy for him to enter as Korra and Mako. Once he was inside though, things became a bit trickier.
There were far more people than any of them had expected inside. Possibly as many as five hundred people, and that was only the audience. The building was crawling with patrols of uniformed equalists armed with electrified weapons similar to what had ruined Naruto's night, the previous day.
Miraculously though he was able to stay out of sight and avoid the roving patrols sweeping the side halls of the building and get into a position up above the main stage. He was actually just above a set of massive lights that physically shook as they turned on to shine down on Amon and his crew as they made their appearance.
As the terrorist leader was announced the audience went wild and Naruto could only grimace at the sight. Things had really gotten out of hand in regard to the equalist movement. Their numbers were growing very rapidly and if even just a portion of tonight's audience signed up with Amon and his group, they would be getting a huge recruitment boost.
"My quest for equality began many years ago. When I was a boy, my family and I lived on a small farm." The masked Amon began. Naruto could tell immediately that Amon was a rather charismatic man, even if he hid behind a mask. No wonder he was able to easily sway unhappy people to his cause.
"We weren't rich and none of us were benders. Thai made us very easy targets for the firebender who extorted my father." He continued.
Naruto released a sigh. It was a common enough story. People abusing their abilities to oppress the common man. He'd witnessed it in the past. It might be a true story from Amon or it might not but that didn't really matter. The exact same situation, or similar enough of one, had happened to practically everyone in the world at one point and time.
The only thing was, it didn't take bending to oppress someone. It was just easier and more memorable when it was involved. It made it that much easier for a group like the equalists to form, and all that much easier to swell their ranks. Not that Naruto would consider it a bad thing if Amon wasn't such an extremist and his tactics didn't include violence and kidnappings.
Amon continued his speech. Telling a story of how his family was murdered for standing up tot he bender that extorted them and supposedly forcing him to live behind a mask to conceal his own burns.
Naruto couldn't be certain how much of the man's story was true if any of it. But either way from his voice alone he could tell that Amon truly did despise benders. He really had been harmed by them and so easily the tale could be a true one. The audience was of a similar mindset as they audibly reacted to the speaker's words.
That didn't matter though. If Amon had kidnapped Bolin and those gangsters, he couldn't be planning anything good for them. Amon's pain and anger were already endangering people and while the airbender didn't imagine he would be taking Amon or his movement down tonight, he was intent on saving Korra's teammate and getting his own hands on Zolt.
He hadn't forgotten the conversation the two of them needed to have.
Naruto grimaced once again as the crowd collectively booed Korra's presence in Republic City. He doubted that really did the girl any favors when it came to personal ideas of image, but he had to stay focused on the stage rather than trying to pick his two allies out of the sea of people in the cavernous room.
He continued to listen as Amon scapegoated benders and bending for quite literally every conflict in human history. If any of the people below had been able to look past their own anger and resentment they would see the flaws in the man's words, but Naruto knew better than most how difficult such a thing could be.
"I know you have been wondering what is the Revelation? You are about to get your answer!" Amon announced once again causing Naruto to focus entirely on the stage.
"Since the beginning of time, the spirits have acted as guardians of our world, and they have spoken to me." Amon claimed, causing Naruto's eyes to narrow to slits. He very much doubted that much of the man's speech.
"They say the Avatar has failed humanity!"
At that Naruto felt hot anger begin bubbling in his veins. The Avatar. Few were as tied to the current and previous Avatar as his family was. Naruto himself was only alive because of the Avatar. His grandfather was a million times the leader and spiritualist that this Amon was.
Suddenly Zolt was a very distant secondary objective for Naruto tonight. He needed to speak with Amon tonight. First though, they still needed to see where Bolin and the triads were being held. He wasn't so bent on knocking around this arrogant ass that he was willing to let hostages be put in danger.
That anger washed away into pure cold disbelief when Amon began claiming he could take away someone's bending. Something only the Avatar could do. Or at least that was what Naruto believed.
"Now, time for a demonstration. Please welcome "Lightning Bolt" Zolt leader of the Triple Threat Triad and one of the most notorious criminals in this city."
Naruto eyed the gangsters being ushered onto the stage. They were bound up in rope to keep their arms restricted. Most benders weren't skilled enough to perform their art without moving their arms into forms. Naruto wasn't sure how skilled any of those guys on stage were but he doubted the rope was the real restraint keeping them in line. The little army of chi blockers was more than enough to put all of the benders up there in the grave if need be. Keeping them contained was easy next to that.
At the end of the line of gangsters, Naruto could recognize Bolin easily enough. He'd seen him in the pro-bending arena before. Though he did wonder if he and Mako were actually blood siblings after looking at him. Beyond being male and the color of their hair they weren't exactly all that similar.
Though it wasn't like he was one to talk.
Ignoring that, Naruto was a bit stunned as Amon let Zolt free and gave him the chance to fight for his freedom and his bending. Not that it was a real chance. Even if he somehow beat Amon who Naruto assumed was versed in the same chi blocking skills as his followers, he still had an army of trained fighters to deal with.
Zolt proved to be little more than a suped up thug in the end. Amon easily avoided his attacks and got inside his guard. In seconds flat the fight was over and Amon was forcing Zolt to his knees as he seemed to press some sort of point on his neck and forehead. Almost in line with the chakras that Naruto had briefly learned about in his time back home at the temple.
Slowly Zolt's attempt to bend lightning began to wither, before becoming flame which itself slowly dwindled down into nothing. He collapsed onto the stage at Amon's feet. Refusing to just give in, Zolt tried to launch another slew of fire balls at Amon, but the masked man simply stood in front of him as Zolt's fists pitifully sailed through the air and did…nothing.
"Impossible." Naruto muttered in total shock at what he had seen. His mind told him that it was lies but how could he deny what he had just seen.
It lent credence to what Amon had been spouting only moments before. Terrifying weight to his claims.
"The era of bending is over! A new era of equality has begun!" Amon cried out to the gathered crowd receiving deafening cheers.
The crime boss that Naruto knew to be Shady Shin was next on the chopping block so to speak. The poor bastard didn't even have any water to defend himself with and so wound up on the losing side of a fist fight with the big boss of chi blockers. Naruto could only watch as the water bender collapsed beside his business partner in a heap.
One by one more of the triads were purged of their bending abilities. Not something Naruto really felt all that torn up about considering who they all were, but as they moved on with their little show they got closer and closer to pushing Bolin up in front of Amon and Naruto needed to stop that from happening.
The only problem was that he really didn't have any ideas on how to do this without winding up getting the same treatment as Zolt had. There was a literal army of riled up non-benders below him and he was pretty sure that even if he beat Amon, the only way to keep someone like him down was by putting them down permanently. That would only make people here want to rip benders limb from limb rather than drop this insane crusade.
"Come on think of-" Naruto growled to himself only to pause as he noticed a sudden small but dramatic change in the humidity and pressure in the air. It didn't take long to figure out that Korra and Mako were trying to blow the steam pipes that still ran through the foundry's walls. It would create one hell of a diversion and even give them some smoke cover.
"Nice, I can help with that." He said, though neither could hear him of course.
The blond wrapped his legs tightly around the rafter that held up the light fixture and let himself hang upside down as he went to work. He twisted and swirled his arms as he began manipulating the considerable amount of bottled up steam within the pipes to expand and expand until they were nearly bursting. Luckily steam was something that was kind of a gray area for benders. Much like how both waterbenders and earthbenders could manipulate mud, air and water benders could both manipulate steam in different ways.
Just as Bolin was forced into the center of the stage Naruto felt a release of the steam he was helping to build up and with some help from Korra began pumping the massive room full of the thick cloudy fog that he had managed to make from literal thin air.
The bursting of pipes and massive thick cloud of hot steam sent the huge crowd into a panicked flight as they attempted to stampede back out of the building. Naruto pushed the thoughts of all the people likely being harmed in the panic from his mind and instead dropped down toward the stage with a flourish of his robes, cushioning his fall with some well timed blasts of air that only served to stir the thick mist up more.
Without the ability to see more than a couple of feet in any direction Naruto had to focus as much as he could on sounds. The tell-tale sound of Bolin celebrating his brother rescuing him was enough to go on and so the airbender followed after the pro-bending brothers. However he wasn't the only one.
Just slightly faster than himself, one of Amon's thugs, perhaps a higher ranking member on account of the slightly altered equipment and uniform, slammed the door behind himself as he pursued Mako and Bolin. Naruto was surprised to find it locked and without a key he started improvising. A little trick he had used to sneak into his father's tiny vault of salvaged bending scrolls left over from the air temples. He forced air into the thin gap between the locks of the mechanism until all the pins were popped and the door's lock clicked free.
In the time it took to do that though the fight had already quickly run it's course. The equalist made short work of the brothers despite their skill with their respective elements.
"You benders need to understand. There's no place in the world for you anymore." The man arrogantly said.
Naruto stopped himself as he and Korra locked eyes. She was coming in from a side hallway and now they both had the drop on the man that had just put the beatdown on Mako and Bolin.
Korra slammed a foot to the floor and a slab of stone shot out of the ground and bounced the man off of the wall behind him, cracking his gear slightly and definitely bruising his ribs at the least.
"I wouldn't count us out just yet." She said with a glare.
The man began to struggle to his feet only for a blast of wind to crash down on top of him and bounce his head off of the ground hard enough to knock him out.
"We should get out of here, I can hear a ton more coming this way." Naruto said.
"Right, help me get them onto Naga." As she said the creature's name it turned the corner and bounded up to them.
"That's some really weird timing…maybe there is something to the whole spirit guide animal or something." Naruto mumbled as he hefted Bolin onto the saddle beside his brother.
"Here they come, let's go!" Korra said as easily a dozen chi blockers began giving chase after them. However they all stopped as Amon called them off. Perfectly happy to have Korra and Naruto be the ones to be telling people about what they had seen at the Revelation.
After parting ways with Mako and Bolin, Naruto and Korra both returned to air temple island. As they made their way up from the docks they were met by Tenzin and a small collection of White lotus who were being given various orders by the air bender. When he saw the two of them however he cleared the space between them rapidly having heard nothing but worrying reports for the last two days regarding the pair of them.
"Thank the spirits you're both alright. Where have you two been? Did something happen with the Triads?" He demanded while checking Korra over for injuries and giving his son a subtle once over as well.
"We're fine…no actually we're not fine. Tenzin, we saw Amon tonight. He can take people's bending away, for good." Korra said while rubbing her arms at the terrifying thought.
"That's, no that's impossible, Korra." Tenzin weakly argued.
"I said the same thing, but I watched him. He pressed a thumb to a bender's forehead and then it was like they just lost any connection to their element." Naruto said, he was somewhat shaken by the thought as well.
Tenzin looked troubled by that news. A bender's element was tied to their very soul. It was part of who they were, good or bad. To lose something like that. It was like having a limb amputated almost.
"What happened? I know you went looking for your friend, Korra, and Lin told me you've evidently been smashing through Triad hangouts since your factory was attacked. That is something else we are going to need to have a conversation about by the way."
"I was looking for the Triad leader to figure out who set him after my factory and my workers. Coincidentally cause I was smashing up their bases of operations, the leadership of the triad needed a sit down and so Korra's teammate was offered a job acting as security. They needed some quick money and just so happened to pick the worst possible moment to be taking a job from the likes of Zolt and Shin." Naruto explained.
Tenzin sighed. He wanted to reprimand Naruto for what he had been doing but he was too tired from a full twenty four hours spent awake worrying for Korra and their little group of friends to really deal with fighting with his son at the moment. Besides the fact that Naruto and Korra were back and safe and sound was a far more important thing at the moment.
Plus he would leave the yelling to Pema for once. The moment she had found out Naruto had been out taking on the Triad alone she had lost it. Pregnant as she was, if there was one person that could still rein Naruto in, it was his mother.
"Why don't you both get some sleep. We'll talk more about what happened in the morning." Tenzin suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Korra said as she began making her way toward the bedrooms.
"Dad…" Naruto said quietly after Korra was out of earshot. Tenzin jolted slightly at the vulnerable and worried tone his son was using toward him.
"There is something bad and big coming our way. The equalists have way more numbers than we used to think they did and wherever they are getting their support from has given them weapons that could really level the playing field. If we are going to have a chance of keeping things from turning into a full blown war we need to do something soon." Naruto warned.
Tenzin sighed once again before turning to look out at the city across the bay.
"You really saw him take someone's bending?" Tenzin asked.
"WIth my own two eyes. One after another. He made it look easy. I was looking for Zolt that whole time but the moment I saw what Amon did I realized I have some bigger problems to handle first." Naruto said quietly.
"With everything you've told me already…I don't know if we can stop it from becoming a conflict. I'll try though. Something, I just don't know what yet. Maybe the rest of the council will have ideas."
"I hope so. Maybe we can send Mom and the kids to stay with grandma for a while though. Just to be safe."
Tenzin paused at that. It wasn't a bad idea. But he knew the moment they did that Amon would use that as information and another piece of propaganda to rally more people to his cause. Eventually not even the furthest reaches of their world would be safe from the equalists if they didn't nip it in the bud now.
"I'll keep that idea in mind. If it becomes necessary we'll send them and Korra all to the south pole to be safe." Tenzin said.
"Yeah, good luck getting Korra to go. Still for mom and the others, if things spin out of control quickly it might be too late if we wait for very long to send them away."
Tenzin nodded his head before hesitantly, and extremely awkwardly placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"Get some rest son. We'll speak more on this all tomorrow."
"Yeah. See you in the morning."
That is that. I hope you enjoyed. A quick reminder that there will be some relatively major changes to the plot to make this an AU. Some characters will be doing things that they definitely didn't do in the original series.
Now we managed to see the Revelation. Something that reasonably shook both Naruto and Korra to their core. Sadly Naruto never got his hands on Zolt to figure out who really wanted to have a gang of benders wreck Naruto's factory. I promise you though there is more to that story that we will be investigating as the story progresses.
This portion of the story does pretty closely tie with canon for obvious reasons, but the conflict coming up will be a bit different than the one we had in the show. I do hope you all enjoy when we get there.
Anyway
Till Next Time