-Author's Note-

Okay, second chapter is done. I was a little later than I wanted to be with it as family showed up and did not give me much free time. Selfish pricks, I know. But they're gone now and I managed to finish this chapter as you all can read. I actually had this nearly done but, when I reread it, I realised I had copied some parts of the Boiling Rock episodes and it also felt a bit boring. So I spiced things up a bit, hope you all enjoy. Again, I feel like I rushed the end to this chapter but I'm also okay with it, hope you all agree.

I'm still really happy that I am working on this story. I'm excited to see what you all think and I hope I go far with this and complete it.

Now, onto the pairing. I'm still going for Naruto/Katara/Toph/Azula but I'm not sure if I'm going to pair him with anyone else. I might change my mind about adding people but we'll see. I'd rather keep it small. I'm also happy to try my hand at a Naruto/Katara pairing as there are surprisingly few good ones out there featuring these two.

If you see any mistakes then please let me know and I will fix them. Any questions then please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer. Please also leave a review if you can, the more the better. (Selfish of me to ask, I know, but I like reviews. Nice ones are always incredible to read, helpful ones are just very helpful, and bad ones are fun to laugh at.).

Next chapter, whenever that is, will be back with Naruto.

Word Count (Without Author's Note): 5139

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"My friend, I hope this message reaches you.

When I heard tale of a woman with hair as red as rubies travelling around the countries, I dared to hope that it was you. Which is why I sent my personal messenger hawk to find you, he has a knack for finding anyone anywhere. If there was anyone who could help me, I knew only you could.

I was captured that night five years ago and thrown in a cell. For months I was starved and tortured. They hoped that my spirit would break so that I would reveal the locations of our bases, however I never gave in, even when threatened with execution. But they never gave me death, instead they put me in a dark prison and made sure I suffered everyday, wishing for the death they would never grant me.

The prison I am in is the Boiling Rock, a vile place with no hope of escape. I beg you to rescue me before I lose what little sense of sanity I have left. I beg you.

Your faithful friend,

Shŭ."

Thanks to the aid of the lamp next to her, Kushina read and reread the letter as she stood on the bow of the ship. It had been nearly two hours since she had left Ember Island and she was now in the middle of the open sea. The Captain had proved himself a capable seafarer as he had his crew manoeuvre the ship away from patrols without being seen.

"I can't believe that Shŭ's still alive," Kushina muttered, disbelief clear in her voice. Hearing someone walking up to her, Kushina quickly put away the note and turned to see the Captain standing about a metre away, idly smoking a pipe. "Can I help you, Captain?" she asked. The man was wearing a long blue captains coat, which he wasn't wearing before. No doubt to try and make himself look more important.

"Please, you may call me Hăidào, instead of Captain." He held a kind smile but Kushina didn't like how he looked at her. "I am just curious why a woman such as yourself would want to go to the Boiling Rock of all places," he said, nodding his head South, the direction of the prison. "Anyone that even heard of that place would want to avoid it. But you want to go straight there." He leaned a little towards Kushina and blew some smoke with a grin, "Why?"

Waving her hand to get rid of some of the smoke, Kushina narrowed her eyes. "I'm paying you to get me there, not to ask questions," she said, standing her ground. But that made the Captain more amused than anything. "How long until reach the island?"

"I'd say tomorrow night," Hăidào answered, "That is, if the waters allow it. With how rough they are now, there's a good chance it will make reaching the island a more difficult task than finding the Avatar."

"The water doesn't concern me," Kushina countered, turning back to look out towards the sea. "Just make sure we stay away from the islands docks. I don't want to be seen and neither do you. Unless you want thrown into the prison you'll be trespassing into." The Captain didn't seem offended by Kushina's threat, he was more amused than anything. "And tell your men to stop leering at me," Kushina continued, glaring at the other crewmen who openly stared at her. "If they don't stop then I'll cut off their manhood's and feed it to the iguana seals."

"And I assume you'll be using that interesting blade of yours," he said, glancing at the katana sword tied to Kushina's side. Seeing the woman grip the hilt of her sword, the man laughed and took a step back. "Now, now, no need to be like that. I'm not going to do anything."

He would have continued talking but one of his men came up to them. "Captain Hăidào, one of the naval ships is drawing closer. We should move before they see us."

"Forgive me," Hăidào said to Kushina, bowing his head a little, "I must see to this. But please feel free to join us later so that we can continue our conversation." Kushina didn't say anything and the two men left towards the ships steering wheel. Now alone again, she relaxed but kept a hand on her sword just in case. She didn't trust anyone on this ship and the Captain just made that feeling worse.

She didn't get any sleep that night in case the men on the ship tried anything but they didn't try anything, thankfully. Kushina was also thankful that Hăidào stayed away from her. While eating some food that she brought with her, Kushina began to think of a plan on how to get into the Boiling Rock. She had no idea what it looked like, or how big it was, or even where Shŭ was.

This was not going to be easy, not that she expected it to be.

From what little rumours she had heard about the prison, she knew that the prison sat in the middle of a volcanic lake and the only way to get into the prison was by gondala. Even with the water at a high temperature, Kushina knew she'd be fine with her waterbending. She just had to make sure to keep moving when she crossed the lake. There was also a good chance that security will be a bit more lax than other prisons with how impossible it is to escape, meaning she should be able to move around inside with some ease.

'I'll have to improvise when I'm inside,' Kushina thought with a sigh, hating that she was going in without a plan.

"May I have a moment of your time?"

Kushina didn't even need to turn to see who had spoke to her. It was Captain Hăidào, or as Kushina has been calling him in her head, Captain Creep. As much as she'd like to say she'd rather be alone, the woman instead nodded. "Is there something you need?" she asked.

"Yes, you see, I have been going over our agreement and then I realised something," he said, blowing some smoke from his pipe. Kushina narrowed her eyes but let him continue, "While you have paid enough to be transported to the Boiling Rock, I'm afraid you need to pay extra to return from there."

"Excuse me? I paid you more than enough for this," she argued, "You told me yourself that the payment was sufficient!"

Again, Hăidào held his smile and it was annoying Kushina to no end. "At the time, yes it was. But I didn't take into account the danger that myself and my crew would be in. Just by sailing near the island, we could be imprisoned for the rest of our lives. Now, I can promise to get you to that island, but I cannot promise my ship will be there to get you out."

Snarling, Kushina was about to draw her blade but stopped as she knew it wouldn't be a good idea. She was hating this bastard more and more but she still needed him for now. "Fine but I don't have any money on me right now."

"You have your sword though, that would do well towards paying off the rest," the Captain suggested with a wicked grin, his greed now showing. "That blade of yours is incredibly rare in this day and age. It would fetch a very good price to the right buyer."

Now Kushina really did draw her blade and pressed it against Hăidào's neck. "I would rather shatter my own sword than give it to you!" she threatened.

The crew saw what was happening and brandished their own weapons as they ran over to help their Captain. But the man waved at them to calm down and not to interfere. "I know you won't hurt me," he said, doing his best to ignore how the sword was starting to cut into his neck with how hard Kushina was pushing it, "Lets say you do kill me, you'd then be forced to fight my men and if they die, then who will pilot the ship? I highly doubt you can use my ship all by yourself. So, either pay up or you're on your own from here on."

Kushina knew he was right. Even with her waterbending, she wouldn't be able to manoeuvre the ship well enough to avoid the patrols. With a scowl, she reluctantly let go of the Captain and sheathed her sword. Snatching it from her waist, she thrust it into the Captains stomach, making him give an 'oomph' as he caught the weapon. "If you don't hold your end of the bargain, I'll take my sword back from your corpse."

"And I believe you," Hăidào said, happy to now have such a rare and valuable blade in his possession, "But you have nothing to worry about. I am a man of my word, after all."

"No the fuck you're not," Kushina muttered before pushing her way past the man to go be alone, otherwise she was going to kill someone. She walked past the crew who all moved to avoid her, just in case."

For the rest of the day, Kushina was left alone which is what she wanted. It gave her time to prepare and make up some kind of plan. Now dressed black clothing to help her blend in with the darkness, she stood at the bow of the ship and waited as they neared the island. Even from where they were, they could all feel the heat radiating from the volcanic lake.

"Keep her steady!" the Captain ordered from the wheel, guiding the ship closer. As soon as she could, Kushina jumped from the ship and landed on the ground in a perfect roll. She stayed there for a few seconds to make sure she wasn't seen before standing. "We'll be here in a few hours," Hăidào said to the woman as the ship began moving away, "That should give you plenty of time to do what you need to do."

Kushina didn't answer him and, instead, turned and ran up the rocky hill. Once she reached the summit, she carefully looked over the edge and frowned. The lake was bigger than she thought it would be and she could barely see the prison sitting in the middle due to all the steam. At least it will keep her hidden from the guards watching for potential intruders, not that they would be expecting any.

Carefully, she climbed down towards the scolding water. Slowly, she bent the water and turned a bit of it to ice, only to frown as she watched it melt within seconds. "Gonna have to be quick," Kushina muttered as she took a few steps back. Breaking into a sprint, she neared the water and froze it as she stepped on it. Every step she made, she also made a patch of ice to step on and jump off before it melted. It took her about five minutes of hopping on bits of ice before she reached the patch of land that the prison sat on. The steam from the boiling lake helping to mask her presence.

Getting closer to the prison, Kushina frowned as she examined the high wall. It must be nearly five stories high, probably more and the walls were perfectly flat and made of metal, meaning it was next to impossible to climb without the proper equipment. Then again, for someone like her, getting over this wall and into the prison would be easy. No need to use the two waterskins she had brought with her when she raised her arms, bringing a large amount of boiling water to her from the lake. She cooled it down quickly, creating more steam for cover, as the water gathered at her feet and lifted her into the air.

Up above, two guards were standing on top of the wall, which was called the parapet. Both were there to watch for intruders but neither were really paying any attention. For all their time working there, they had never seen anyone even attempt to break in prison. Sure, there had been numerous inmates try to break out but they were never successful. But almost every day was boring as nothing happened. Guard #1 was sitting on the ground half asleep as his co-worker, Guard#2, leaned on the small wall over looking the edge.

"Hm?" Guard #2 hummed as a small noise caught his attention. "What was that?" he asked out loud as he looked around, not knowing what he was hearing or where it was coming from. It sounded almost like running water from a river, which didn't make any sense to the man. Thinking it was coming from below, he looked over the edge and would have gasped if it wasn't for the water that encased his head.

"Keep it down," Guard #1 said with a yawn as Guard #2 made some noise before grunting and falling silent. Opening his eyes, Guard #1 looked confused as he couldn't see the other guard nearby. "What the hell?" he muttered as he stood up, "Where did he go?" There was a small noise behind him so he turned and stopped in shock as he saw a person wearing all black was standing there. He didn't even have time to shout as the person moved forward and slashed his throat with a knife they held. Guard #1 clutched at his throat in vain as blood poured out of his wound.

Gargling, he was helpless as the person pushed him over the edge and he fell to his death, following the other guard who had been pulled over. Making sure no one saw or heard what happened, Kushina made her way into the prison. She had no idea where she was going exactly, having never been here before or ever seeing any sort of plan for this place. Not only that but she was on a time limit so she needed to hurry and find Shŭ, wherever he was.

Once inside, Kushina found a spot where she was perfectly hidden and watched the guards walk by. From what she could tell, the guards stayed in groups of two and changed places every ten minutes. She also quickly learned that she was in the East Wing, where all the guards lived while working here. The prisoner cells were mostly in the West Wing, which was on the other side.

Making her way through the prison, Kushina was careful as she avoided the random patrol by sticking to the darker areas and hiding whenever she could. Coming up to a corner, she stopped when she heard someone approaching. There was a door right next to her and she had no idea what was behind it. Taking the risk, she found that it opened and ran inside a thankfully empty room just as the person appeared. However, the guard just saw the door open and, knowing there shouldn't be anyone here, became suspicious and went to check.

As soon as the guard entered the room, she felt a knife at their throat and was slammed against a wall. "No sudden moves," Kushina hissed quietly, "Do anything and you're dead. Nod if you understand." The guard nodded slowly, her body shaking in fear at potentially dying in a second. "I'm looking for a prisoner and you're going to tell me exactly who I'm looking for."

"W-We've got a lot of them here," the guard replied nervously.

"He would have been put here nearly five years ago," Kushina continued, "A little shorter than others. Brown eyes and hair, which was in a bun last I saw. Goes by the name Shŭ."

The woman looked surprised from behind her mask, "Wait! I know him! H-He keeps to himself mostly, never causes any trouble!"

Kushina slammed the woman's head into the wall, jarring her. "Tell me where I can find him now!"

"C-Cell number 254," the woman gasped in pain, a ringing in her ears now. "All the p-prisoners are in their cells at this hour!"

Perfect, now she knew the exact door she needed. All she had to do was find it. "Thank you," Kushina said before killing the guard with a quick throat slash. There was no doubt that she would have either attacked if let go or went to sound the alarm, which was the last thing she needed right now. Letting the body drop to the floor, Kushina ignored the dead woman and left, making sure to shut the door so no one would think to check it.

Finding the cell block was simple enough, the only real problem was that there were more guards here than she thought there'd be. Four were grouped together at the bottom of the only staircase she could see that lead up a floor, and she could see a few more walked down the rows of cells to check the prisoners. Some of them even banged on the cell doors just to wake up a few for no other reason than to have a quick laugh.

'There's no way I can get past without them all knowing. Even if I kill some of them, the others would notice before I could do anything,' Kushina thought with a frown, trying to come up with a plan. What she needed was a distraction to draw the guards away. 'Oh, that'll work,' she thought, seeing the cell door next to her. Being sure not to make a sound, she took out one of her two waterskins that she brought along. Using her bending, she drew out the water from it and put it into the keyhole. She then froze the lock from the inside before kicking the door open. The second it opened, she quickly hid and waited for her plan to start.

The four guards heard the noise and looked over to see what it was. To their shock, a cell door was wide open and the prisoner walked out, who also looked surprised at what was happening. "Oi! Get back in your cell!" one of the guards ordered as he and the others made their way over. The prisoner, seeing a chance to possibly escape, took that chance and made a run for it, forcing the guards to chase after her.

A couple of the guards up above ran down to help, leaving Kushina alone with less guards to worry about. She ran out of her hiding place and up the stairs, being careful in case the guards that stayed behind saw her. 'Let's see,' thought Kushina, looking at a few of the cells, '166? Damn, need to go up one more.'

The stairs were on the opposite side but there were no guards on this floor so it was just a case of running all the way around the floor she was on until she reached them. This time, when she went upstairs, there were two guards passing each other and one of them was heading her way. Before she could try and hide, the guard saw her. "Intru-!" the guard tried to yell but was stopped by a shard of ice stabbing through his foot and into the ground.

He cried out in pain as the other guard heard the noise. Running forward, Kushina jumped and threw several more icicles before landing her foot on the first guard. With her momentum, she was able to kick him down to the ground, smashing his head into the floor. That either knocked him out or killed him, either way he was out of the way so Kushina focused on the other guard who dodged her ice attack.

The guard spun round and threw his foot out, sending a wave of fire at her. Kushina easily jumped over the attack and then ducked a fireball. Moving to the side to avoid another attack, Kushina used the wall to spring forward and then bent her water to wrap around the guards throat. Quickly, she used her knife and stabbed him in the chest, killing him. Drawing back her water, Kushina then took a deep breath and looked at what cell she was standing at. Funily enough, it said '254', so she was exactly where she wanted to be somehow.

Destroying the lock like she did before, she made her way into the cell and saw someone hiding beneath the bed. "W-Whose there?" the man said, squinting at the light that shone in to see who broke in.

"Shŭ? Is that you?" Kushina asked, unsure if it was her old friend or not.

For a moment, the man said nothing before he slowly pulled himself out from under the bed with a look of disbelief. "It can't be..." he said softly once he stood, now getting a good look at the person. Kushina took off her mask, letting Shŭ see her face as well as her red hair. "It is," he muttered before walking over, "Kushina! By the flames, it is you!" There was only one person in all of the Four Nations that had red hair so there was no doubt about it in his mind.

He launched himself forward, wrapping his arms around Kushina and nearly knocking her off her feet. "Oof!" Kushina grunted, not expecting the man to embrace her all of a sudden. And she definitely didn't expect him to start crying onto her shoulder. "Yep, you haven't changed at all, Shŭ." Which wasn't exactly true. While his personality seemed the same, he looked a little different from what she remembered but it had been five years since they last saw each other. His hair was longer, down to his shoulders, stress making him look older than he probably was, and he had a bit of a gut going on which was clearly shown thanks to the prisoners clothing he was wearing.

"You came!" he sniffled, "You actually came! That must mean you got my letter!"

After prying the man off of her, Kushina answered, "I got your letter a week ago. I still can't believe you're alive. How?" There was a noise in the distance and Kushina quickly remembered the situation. "Never mind," she said, putting her mask back up, "We need to leave before more guards show up."

Shŭ gave the woman a hopeful look. "Leave? You know a way to get off this forsaken prison?"

"You'll see later, right now we have to go," she replied while making sure the coast was clear. "Now shut up and follow me quietly."

"Just like old times," Shŭ said before doing as he was told. Leaving the cell, they moved past the two dead guards, or one dead guard and one unconscious guard who might be in a coma due to severe head trauma and possible brain damage. Just as they got to the bottom of the stairs to the ground floor, alarms began blaring throughout the prison which alerted every guard to a breakout.

Snapping her head to look at Shŭ, Kushina said, "Run! And stay close to me!"

Going back the same way she came in was probably not the best way to go, but it was the only way Kushina knew to get out quickest. Any other path might take too long and she couldn't risk it. A few guards appeared and tried to stop her but she dealt with them quickly. Even Shŭ helped when he could by using his firebending to fight the guards and to protect Kushina. Running some more, the two eventually made their way along the parapet but stopped as a dozen guards appeared from the other end. Looking back the way they came, Kushina saw that more guards also appeared, blocking both ways. The guards carefully approached and were ready to attack when ordered as Kushina and Shŭ backed up until their backs touched the wall.

"What do we do?" Shŭ quietly asked, looking back and forth between the many guards surrounding them.

"This."

"This?" Shŭ repeated before shouting out as Kushina grabbed him and both fell over the wall. He screamed in fear as he saw the ground quickly approaching.

Grabbing onto Shŭ, who would not stop screaming, Kushina opened both of her waterskins and drew out the water. Acting quickly, she created a long whip of water to cover her free arm and managed to stab into the metal wall, stopping them from falling to their deaths. "You can stop screaming now," Kushina said while using the water to lower them both safely to the ground.

Realising he was now safe, Shŭ opened his eyes after shutting them in fear. "Oh," he muttered. Once his feet touched the ground, he collapsed while breathing heavily from all the adrenaline. "You're just as crazy as you were all those years ago," he accused with a small laugh.

"I was never that bad," Kushina tried to defend while making sure no one followed after. It looked like they were safe for a few minutes but they still had to get across the lake and off the island.

"I seem to recall you fighting an entire Earth Kingdom platoon just because one of them compared your hair to a tomato," Shŭ said with a deadpan stare.

Blushing, Kushina glared at Shŭ and shouted, "That was one time!"

"What about that time in Gaoling where you robbed-"

"We all agreed to never speak of that night again!" Kushina hissed, her glare finally shutting Shŭ up. Once he had managed to catch his breath, Kushina lead him to the lakes edge. This time, she created a raft made of ice and had Shŭ climb in, to which she followed suit. Quickly, before the ice melted, she used her waterbending to push and sail the raft quickly to the other side of the lake.

The hard part was now over and Kushina relaxed a little. All that was left was to get off the island and onto Hăidào's ship, and judging by the fact that she could see the ship nearby meant that it shouldn't take too long.

"Easy does it!" called out Hăidào as he sailed his ship away from the island. Kushina and her friend were now on board, soaked from swimming to them and climbing aboard. "We need to get far away from here as fast as we can, men!"

There was a chorus of, "Aye, aye, Captain!" as each crew member went about their jobs.

Letting his First-Mate take the wheel, Hăidào walked over to Kushina with a grin. "A successful trip, I see. You were lucky," he said, "When I heard the alarms, I feared you wouldn't return."

"You wouldn't have cared either way," Kushina replied back heatedly. "You already got paid and took my sword from me. Just hurry and take me back to Ember Island."

"We are already heading in that direction," the Captain said with a laugh, uncaring of how the woman accused him of blackmail. They couldn't even hear the alarms anymore, showing that they have sailed far enough away now. "As long as we are careful, we'll be there by this time tomorrow." He then walked away, to make sure his crew were doing things right.

"I need some sleep," Kushina groaned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Looking at his friend, Shŭ raised an eyebrow, "Why don't you? You got me out of that prison and we're sailing to freedom. You can rest now."

Waving her hand to the crew, Kushina showed that they were randomly staring at her with obvious lust. "Because I can't trust any of these bastards. As soon as they see me sleeping, they'll try something."

"I'll watch over you," Shŭ offered, "You get some sleep and I'll make sure they don't do anything. Besides, I think you need it. You look like you're about to pass out."

Kushina wanted to say no, to let her friend rest after gaining his freedom after five years of imprisonment. But her body felt heavy and she felt tired after today's events and lack of sleep. It was starting to take a toll on her. "Fine," she relented after a few minutes of internal debates. "You win. You make sure they stay away from me. But if they try anything, I'm cutting off limbs."

"... Fair enough," Shŭ said with a nod, having expected her to make random threats. With her own nod, Kushina practically collapsed onto the floor and shut her eyes, falling asleep soon after. Shŭ stayed with her for several minutes, making sure that she was fully asleep before moving away. Finding Hăidào back at the wheel, he walked up to the man and said, "Captain, may I have a moment of your time?"

Hăidào took a puff from his pipe before nodding. "You need something?"

Shaking his head, Shŭ continued, "No I don't, thank you. I was just wondering something." Hăidào waved his hand, motioning for Shŭ to say what he wanted. "I heard my friend mention how she already paid you and you even aquired her sword somehow. I was just curious to know what happened."

"Your friend paid me a bags worth of gold to take her to the Boiling Rock," Hăidào answered with a shrug. "As I said to her, with how dangerous it was for my men and I to sail these waters, another bag of gold would make things more fair. Obviously she didn't have the coin on her but she did have a very rare sword." With a chuckle, Hăidào blew some smoke, "She was very reluctant to hand it over but she relented in the end. That sword is now safely in my quarters."

"Interesting," Shŭ muttered.

"Why the interest?" Hăidào asked back.

Looking around to make sure no one was listening, Shŭ said, "Because I'm not sure you know who hired you."

That caught Hăidào attention, "I'm not sure I understand."

"Let me tell you something about Kushina and then maybe you'll understand a little better," Shŭ said with a dark chuckle, a plan forming in his head to get what he wanted.