CHAPTER 5: LEAVES OF METAL
(Disclaimer: Avatar The Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon and Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I only own my OC's)
(PLEASE READ: THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL TO "SHUJINKO: THE FOURTH MEMBER", BUT A DIFFERENT STORY WITH SHUJINKO AS THE MAIN CHARACTER. THIS STORY WILL NOT HAVE ANY EFFECT WHATSOEVER IN "SHUJINKO SHIPPUDEN". I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL TO SHUJINKO'S ORIGINAL STORY)
Summary: One night, a stranger breaks into Shujinko's house and tries to steal one of the most mystical objects in the history of the Ozuma clan: The Eye of Kazemaru. When Shujinko tries to stop him, the two of them activate an ancient and forgotten power of the gem by accident, which sends them to another dimension where a certain bald-headed monk has to master the four elements in order to defeat the evil Fire Lord. What kind of impact will Shujinko's presence have in the Avatar universe? Who is this stranger and what does he want? Get ready for one wild space-time adventure
"Aang! Shujinko! Guys, where are you!?" Sokka shouted as he continued to search for the Avatar around the near vicinity of their camping site.
Upon returning from their little trip to the village nearby, the Water Tribe siblings quickly realized that neither Aang nor Shujinko were in the camp. As far as Sokka could tell, there were no signs of a fight having taken place and he didn't see any Fire Nation troops while he was riding Appa. Fearing for the worst, Sokka immediately began to look for them, with Katara doing the same just a bit further from where he was.
"Oh man, I knew going to that village was a bad idea. Why didn't anyone tried to stop me? Those two are nowhere to be seen!"
"Sokka, we arrived here less than five minutes ago. Don't you think you're overreacting?" Katara asked as she approached her brother. Despite not finding the young monk or the golden-eyed boy at the camp, the waterbender kept an open mind and avoided jumping into conclusions, unlike her paranoid of a brother. "I think we should wait for them a little longer before we start to freak out. It's not like Aang has never gone off to wander around on his own for a while,"
"Exactly! You said it yourself!" Sokka replied. "He goes off to wander around on his own, but he wasn't alone this time, now was he?"
Katara slightly narrowed her eyes. "What are you implying?"
"Listen Katara, we can't afford to be naïve. I don't like to point fingers, but my guts are telling me that a certain someone, whose name starts with an 's' and ends with an 'o', has something to do with the fact that Aang's not here. You know that as well as I do,"
"Calm down, will you? Acting like a lunatic isn't going to help anyone," her sister said. Admittedly, Katara would be the first to become worried if one of her friends went missing, but that didn't mean she would immediately pin the blame on the first person that came to her head unless she had enough reasons and evidence to do so. She then caught sight of two individuals walking towards them, and her concerns were put to rest. "Besides, there's nothing to worry about. Shujinko and Aang are right be-"
"Nothing to worry about?" Sokka interrupted her, staring at his sister in disbelief. "Katara, in case you haven't notice, we're in the middle of a huge forest and the Fire Nation is chasing after us! How can you say there's nothing to worry about? For all we know, Shujinko could've turned on us while we were away and now Aang is his prisoner! We can't rule that possibility out just because he said he was willing to help us!"
"Sokka, if you would only listen to me and turn aro-"
"How about this scenario? We leave the two of them alone, Shujinko talks to Aang, convinces him to go on a stroll together, takes him as deep into the forest as he can, comes up with an excuse to distract him, and when Aang least expects it, Shujinko goes and-"
"Captures him?"
"D'AAAH!" Sokka let out a frightened, unmanly screech as he turned around. He had been so focused on his abduction theory that he failed to notice the presence of Aang and Shujinko behind his back until the latter spoke. "G-Geez, what was that all about? You could've given me a heart attack!" he protested, wondering how many years of his life had been taken away from him because of the panic.
"Sorry about that, and sorry for not letting you know that we left the camp for a while, but it's not like we had any way of contacting you," Shujinko said apologetically before casting an interesting look on the boy from the Water Tribe. "Now, care to go through that scenario again? About me taking Aang prisoner?"
Sokka's face turned slightly blue, matching the color of his outfit. "I… Uh… I wasn't really talking about you… You see, there's this other guy who also happens to be named Shujinko... A nasty and mean Fire Nation soldier… and he-"
"Just so you know, If I really wanted to capture Aang I would've done so already, and I would've come up with something a lot more elaborated than convincing Aang to go on a stroll together," Shujinko cut him off before walking past him, leaving an embarrassed Sokka behind. Truth be told, he didn't blame Sokka for thinking that he had done something to the Avatar, considering that Katara, Sokka, and Aang were close friends and he was almost a stranger to the group. However, Sokka needed to realize that he had no interest on harming any of them unless they gave him enough of a reason to do so, something Shujinko believed to be highly unlikeable judging by what he had seen so far.
The waterbender of the group was visibly surprised as she noticed how Aang seemed to have reverted back to his usual self. He was no longer mopping or showing any negative emotions. It was almost as if he had forgotten what took place earlier this morning, although couldn't be possible. She herself hadn't completely gotten over the shock of seeing what Shujinko could do with his Ninjutsu, so, by all means, Aang was supposed to feel even more confused and afflicted than she did, yet it didn't seem like that was the case. "What were you two doing outside the camp?"
Shujinko gave Aang a knowing look, to which he nodded with a smile. "Shujinko wanted to show me a cool tree that he saw earlier, it was definitely worth the walk," the airbender replied. Of course, that wasn't the real reason why the two of them went there, but he had promised Shujinko he wouldn't reveal their conversation to the Water Tribe siblings. So in order to avoid breaking his word to the Ozuma, Aang decided to answer truthfully while omitting the rest of the story, which didn't count as lying, therefore keeping his monk conscience clean. "How was your trip? Did anything interesting happen?"
"Oh, right, we brought something from the village. Just wait here a bit," Katara said before going to Appa's saddle and returning with three garments that made an outfit. "Here Shujinko, we got this for you,"
"For me?" Shujinko asked incredulously as he accepted the clothes and stared at them with wide eyes.
Katara nodded. "That's right. Don't take this the wrong way, but we thought you could use them since we're traveling to Gaoling and your current outfit is… Well, it kind of draws attention, which is exactly what we want to avoid,"
The golden-eyed boy took the time to examine the attire handed to him by Katara. The outfit consisted of a pair of loose dark green pants, a long-sleeved beige shirt, and a light green jacket with rolled up sleeves. The set of clothes were far from being fancy or elaborated, as they were wrinkled and even had a couple of patches sewed onto them, but still, Shujinko never expected such a kind gesture from people that barely knew him. "I… don't know what to say. Sokka, Katara, thank you very much. This was really kind of you," Shujinko responded, showing both of them a smile to express his sincere gratitude.
Katara answered with a smile of her own. Her brother, however, waved his hand in a dismissing manner. "No need to thank me, this was Katara's idea,"
Since there was nothing Shujinko could use as a fitting room and he didn't feel like going too far away from where he was just to put his new clothes on, the Chunin decided to hide behind Appa, hoping that the Sky Bison wouldn't move all of a sudden and accidentally expose his body. As the Ozuma started to undress, Aang recalled something. "How did you buy those clothes? Didn't we spend all of our money on supplies when we were in Gi Yuin Village?"
"Well, when we were about to leave this other village, we found a necklace on the ground. It was really pretty, but it belonged to an old lady who had accidentally dropped it while she and her grandsons were unpacking the tents from their caravan," Katara explained, only to be interrupted by a snort from Sokka.
"Just to be clear, I said we should've kept that necklace and sell it to the highest bidder. That old lady didn't seem all that trustworthy to me,"
"Sokka, how can you be so insensitive?" the waterbender asked in anger. "That necklace was given to her by her late husband! Do you really think I would've allowed you to sell the only meaningful possession a widow has left?"
"Was allegedly given to her by her allegedly late husband. I'm not trying to be heartless, I'm just saying that we had no way to know for sure that necklace was truly hers. What if she lied to our faces and kept that necklace for herself? Because believe it or not, old ladies can be scammers too,"
It took every bit of the Water Tribe girl's willpower to stop herself from slapping Sokka across the face using a water whip, and after taking a deep breath to calm her anger, Katara spoke again. "Anyways, that old lady happened to be selling clothes, and she was so happy after getting her necklace back that she asked us to pick whatever outfit we wanted for free. Since Shujinko is with us now, we thought we might as well help him look less suspicious by giving him a traditional Earth Kingdom outfit,"
After a short while, Shujinko came back wearing his new set of clothes, including his Chunin vest and his headband. "What do you think? Do I look Earth Kingdom-ly enough?" he asked. It felt a little weird to wear clothes that were so different from what he was used to, but Shujinko knew it was for the better since they would help him blend in with the crowd, a fundamental skill that every ninja ought to have. And besides, maybe Earth Kingdom fashion would eventually grow on him if given enough time, although the brown-haired boy hoped that wouldn't be the case since he wanted to return to his village as soon as possible.
"Huh, that's interesting. You actually do sort of look like an Earth Kingdom citizen," Sokka said as he raised an eyebrow. "But you might want to consider losing that weird vest you have on. I'm no fashion expert, but I'm pretty sure no one in the Earth Kingdom wears that kind of thing,"
"Really?" Shujinko repeated, staring down at his Chunin vest. He wanted to wear his vest not only because it was green just like most of his new outfit, but also because he was particularly fond of it. Tsunade herself had given it to him the day he earned his Chunin promotion and it was also quite practical for storing small objects. Despite all of that, avoiding unwanted attention was more important than keeping the vest and he knew it, so he took it off and left it close to his feet. "Okay, this should be enough,"
"Actually, there's one last thing you should do," Katara pointed out. "That headband still looks odd on you. If you remove it, no one should be able to tell you're not from the Earth Kingdom,"
Shujinko touched his headband with his fingertips, and this time, he struggled. Not wearing his Chunin vest was one thing, but removing his headband was something else entirely. At this point, he was so used to wearing it that not doing so made him feel uncomfortable unless he was inside his house or another familiar place such as Masao's sushi bar. Maybe he was being childish, but not being able to wear his dear headband bothered him now that he was so far away from home. "Sorry, but I'm keeping it on. I don't see how wearing my headband will be an issue,"
"Come on, Shujinko. It's better to be safe than sorry," the boy with the boomerang said. "What if someone asks you why are you wearing that strange headband that no one else has?"
"In that case, I'll just come up with an excuse and problem solved,"
The faint hint of defiance in his voice left the rest of the group a bit surprised, especially Katara, who was more perceptive than her brother and the Avatar. Without knowing Shujinko all that much, she could tell that headband was special to him regardless of its meaning. Katara found herself relating to him, as her necklace was her most treasured possession and she never took it off unless it was necessary. While she failed to see what was so important about that headband, she could understand Shujinko for wanting to keep wearing an object that had sentimental value to him.
Despite not coming to the same conclusion as Katara, Aang could feel the slight tension that was rising, and being the pacifistic monk that he was, he took it upon himself to defuse the situation before an argument could happen between Sokka and Shujinko. "Hey, I got it. You could say that you wear that headband as a lucky charm. You know, for good luck,"
Aang's idea, while questionable at best, was enough to prevent a potential discussion. "A lucky charm?" Sokka repeated. "That's obviously not going to cut it. How about this? Shujinko was a kid when he ran into a wild Pigmy Puma that attacked him and left a nasty scar on his forehead. No, wait! I have something even better than a wild Pigmy Puma… A pack of wild Pigmy Pumas! That should do the trick, right?"
"How about we continue this conversation once we dismantle our camp?" Katara suggested while pointing her thumb at the tents. "It's about time we continue with our journey to Gaoling, and we should find another place to rest before nightfall,"
"Alright, I get it, we need to get moving now," Sokka conceded as the rest of the group began to undo the tents. "… Still, I think we should run with that story. It's a pretty solid one if you ask me. I'm open to more ideas, but I don't see how any of them are gonna beat a pack of wild Pigmy Pumas,"
|Gi Yuin Village|
To say that Lieutenant Kaizu was having a bad day was an understatement.
Holding a pack of ice against the back of his head where Sokka's boomerang had struck him, the man began to wonder for the fiftieth time how in the name of the Spirit World did he went from almost catching the Avatar and obtaining eternal glory to losing all of that and more. It was true that he never expected the Avatar to appear in the village he and his men happened to be in, and he wasn't the first officer in the Fire Nation to miss the opportunity of capturing the boy, but still… to think that a mere group of youngsters would overwhelm and completely pulverize a squad of trained Fire Nation soldiers while outnumbered was by far the biggest humiliation he had ever experienced in all of his military career.
It was no secret inside the Fire Nation army that a lieutenant, despite having a higher standing than a common foot soldier, wasn't exactly someone who commanded a lot of respect from his or her higher-ups. Kaizu was well aware of this, and the fact that he was still a lieutenant when both his father and his grandfather had already achieved a higher position at his age was particularly embarrassing for the man who was about to reach his forties. Before all of the commotion had taken place, Lieutenant Kaizu was sure all he needed in order to achieve a much more important and befitting military rank was one commendable deed, but now? Now he was afraid of losing what little authority he had earned, as well as going back to being a common soldier, which basically meant saying goodbye to all his dreams of wealth, social status, and a legacy worth remembering.
While he continued to look back at his less than noteworthy trajectory as a Fire Nation soldier and officer, he was suddenly interrupted by a guard entering his private tent. "Sir, you have a very important visitor who wants to speak with you,"
Lieutenant Kaizu glared daggers at him all the way from his small desk. "Tell whoever is out there that I'm not in the mood for attending visitors,"
The guard looked visibly uncomfortable. "Sir, I… I don't think it would be appropriate,"
"Didn't you hear me just now? I said I won't receive anyone! Who is this visitor you're speaking of, anyway?" Before the guard had enough time to reply, three women entered the tent without asking for permission of any sort. When Lieutenant Kaizu recognized the woman who was in front of the other two, he nearly fell on his lower back. "P-Pri-Princess Az-Azula, it's you!" Lieutenant Kaizu shouted, immediately standing up straight and giving her a military salute. "M-My apologies, your Royal Highness. Had I known it was you…" Unable to come up with an answer, he looked at the guard who was still inside the tent and yelled his heart out. "You, why didn't you tell me our visitor was none other than Princess Azula!? Get out of my tent right now, before I leave you in charge of cleaning our latrines for the rest of the month!"
The guard didn't need to be told twice and left the tent as fast as he could, bowing to the daughter of the Fire Lord before doing so.
"To what I owe the honor of your visit, Princess Azula?" Lieutenant Kaizu asked, his forehead sweating.
"I'd prefer not to lie to you, Lieutenant. My associates and I had no interest in visiting this place filled with dirty villagers and the like, and we certainly had better things to do instead of bothering ourselves with whatever orders you're carrying out, but a messenger hawk from yesterday delivered a letter that caught our attention," Azula replied as she paced around, not bothering to meet the lieutenant's gaze. "Mai, what did that letter said again?"
Mai took out a small scroll began reading it out loud.
Update on the war:
The Avatar has recently been seen at Gi Yuin Village in the company of his two Water Tribe traveling companions. They escaped before Lieutenant Kaizu and his men could restrain them. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
"Is this true, Lieutenant?" Azula asked.
"Yes, my princess. The Avatar and his friends were indeed here. I saw them with my own eyes,"
"If you saw them with your own eyes and still failed to capture them, my guess is that you fought the Avatar and lost, despite having the advantage in numbers and experience. Am I right, or is my assumption incorrect, Lieutenant?"
"It… pains me to say that your assumption is correct, my princess,"
Azula said nothing at first. Instead, she approached one side of the tent and unbuttoned a rectangular piece of cloth, which opened a window of sorts that gave a clear view of the outside. The princess of the Fire Nation gazed in silence as a gentle breeze slightly pushed her hair bangs. "How unfortunate. You would've done the Fire Nation an immense service by capturing the Avatar, or at the very least, holding him off until reinforcements arrived so that they could your job, one which you're clearly unfit to do,"
A huge pit was forming inside the lieutenant's stomach. He could already picture himself going back to the barracks and eating the same filth as the men who were once under his command. His skin became even paler when Azula turned around and gave him a soul-piercing stare.
"Tell me, Lieutenant. Why should I allow you to retain your already low rank? You have given me plenty of reason to demote you so by allowing a kid and two Water Tribe peasants to escape,"
"P-Princess Azula, with all due respect, that was not exactly what happened. The message you received did not cover everything that took place. We confronted the Avatar and his friends, that much is true, but most of our troubles came from another individual, who seemed to be traveling with the Avatar by the looks of it,"
"Another individual, you say?" Azula raised an eyebrow. "And who is this individual, Lieutenant?"
Lieutenant Kaizu looked down at his feet, trying his best to remember the fight from yesterday. "… I couldn't tell you for sure, my princess. The Avatar and his two friends from the Water Tribe all matched their descriptions, but this other boy… I don't believe I've ever received any information regarding him. He looked like he was fourteen, fifteen at the most. His clothes were most unusual, nothing like what we've seen so far ever since we set foot here. I caught a glimpse of his appearance, and if I were to guess, I'd say he was probably born in one of our colonies here in the Earth Kingdom,"
Ozai's daughter broke eye contact with the man and turned her face to Mai. "It is rather curious, Lieutenant. Not so long ago, the three of us were in Omashu. The Avatar and his companions were there as well, and in an attempt to defy the rule of my father, he tried to kidnap the son of the governor, who is also the baby brother of my friend Mai here, and he would've succeeded had it not been for our intervention,"
"I-Is that so? How awful," Lieutenant Kaizu said before bowing his head at Mai. "It must've been a terrible experience for you, my lady. I hope you and your family have recovered from that ordeal,"
Mai rolled her eyes as if that whole thing had been a nuisance for her rather than anything else. "Whatever, it wasn't nearly as dramatic as it sounds,"
Unfazed by the words of Mai, Azula continued to talk. "Like I just said, we fought against the Avatar in Omashu and managed to return Mai's brother to safety. Yet, in all of that time, we never saw this person you're speaking of. Don't you think it's almost too convenient for this mysterious boy to appear right when you failed to perform your duty? It almost makes me think that you're lying, Lieutenant Kaizu,"
"What? No, I… Your Royal Highness, I am devoted to the glorious Fire Nation. I would never even dream of-"
"But you're not devoted to me, are you? How do I know you're telling me the truth?"
"Because…" Lieutenant Kaizu took a deep breath, carefully choosing his next words and praying to the Spirits they wouldn't be his lasts. "… Because despite all my flaws as a lieutenant, I still know what the consequences of lying to you would be, my princess,"
Azula smirked. That was exactly what she wanted to hear. As an expert on body language, Azula could tell the lieutenant was being truthful even before she began her questioning, but it never hurt to remind her subordinates how she was in control and how she decided their fate, as it was her right. "Good. Now, what else can you tell me about this boy?"
With his chest pounding like a drum, Lieutenant Kaizu answered her question as best as he could. "Before all of the fighting occurred, one of my men approached him and asked some questions. It didn't make much sense, but from what he gathered, the boy's name was apparently Shujinko Ozuma, and he called himself a 'shinobi' from the 'Hidden Leaf Village'. We have no idea what a shinobi is or where this Hidden Leaf Village is located, and neither do the locals here, so it's entirely possible that those two terms are part of a secret code we do not know of,"
"Was he any cute?" Ty Lee asked.
"Beg your pardon?" Lieutenant Kaizu asked back, blinking in utmost confusion and completely baffled by how unexpected and out of place the question was.
"I asked if he's any cute," Ty Lee repeated with an innocent smile. "I know we're chasing after the Avatar and all, but if the other team has cute boys, it makes things so much more exciting! So, was he any cute or not, mister?"
"I... don't believe I'm qualified to answer that,"
"Don't pay attention to my friend, she's not the one you have to answer to," Azula said, to which Ty Lee pouted. "Shujinko Ozuma, huh? I imagine he must be quite a bender if someone so young gave you and your men such a hard time,"
Lieutenant Kaizu furrowed his brow. "The thing is, we're not sure whether he's a bender or not. Neither my men nor myself recall ever seeing him perform any kind of bending during our skirmish,"
"Are you saying that this Shujinko was a bigger threat than you and your soldiers despite not being a bender?"
"Not quite, my princess. I'm saying that, if he has bending abilities, he didn't saw the need to use them against us. Despite his age, he was unbelievably fast and agile, even more so than the elite soldiers of our army. The way he moved, it was like seeing an experienced martial artist who couldn't be touched. He took down at least half of our forces on his own, and while the Avatar was there as well, almost every single one of my troops agree that he was the main cause of our defeat,"
Azula wasn't fully convinced that the so-called Shujinko had displayed such level of prowess. Being a genuine prodigy herself, she was more than aware of how quickly the average soldier was to label people as "prodigies" simply because they had natural skills that allowed them to stay slightly ahead of the curve. It was the result of being born and raised surrounded by mediocrity, so it was hardly a surprise that anything above said mediocrity was worthy of recognition in their eyes.
At the same time, if everything the lieutenant had said up to this point was accurate, Azula could draw a couple of conclusions. The boy he was talking about was most likely a non-bender trained from an early age in the art of hand-to-hand combat in order to make up for his lack of bending abilities. The combination of a ruthless training regime and a natural proficiency in martial arts could be an explanation as for how someone that young could defeat Fire Nation soldiers almost twice his age without having to use bending.
"Also, this weapon was found by one of my men," Lieutenant Kaizu said as he opened a chest and retrieved what seemed to be a small four-pointed star made out of metal with a hole in the middle. "The archer who gave it to me said that Shujinko had thrown this object seconds before he could take the shoot. It got embedded into his bow and made him lose his aim,"
Being an expert on the subject, Mai took the star from Lieutenant Kaizu's hand and stared at it, changing her attitude from bored to slightly interested. "I don't recognize this wrought, but I know for a fact that no one can throw this kind of weaponry effectively without years' worth of practice,"
Having seen what Mai was capable of doing with her weapons, Azula didn't have a hard time taking her word for it, and it supported the idea that Shujinko had no bending abilities. However, a martial artist and a marksman? Shujinko was starting to look more like an assassin of sorts, and Azula wouldn't consider his young age to be a factor that debunked this theory. She herself was considered to be the biggest Firebending prodigy in all of the Fire Nation with only fifteen years of age.
"Is there anything else?" Azula asked the lieutenant.
"… Well, I'm not sure how relevant this might be, but the soldier who tried to interrogate him said that the boy wore a strange metallic headband with an unknown symbol engraved into it. According to him, said symbol looked like this…" Lieutenant Kaizu handed Azula a sheet of paper from his desk, which depicted a swirl-like circle with a small triangle attached to its left side and a diagonal stroke sticking out of its right side. Azula had to admit she had never seen that symbol before, although its shape oddly reminded her of a leaf, which she supposed made reference to the Hidden Leaf Village that the boy said was the place he came from. "I happen to know the soldier who drew this. He's impulsive, but he has a good memory, and he was right in front of Shujinko when he noticed that symbol. That's all the information we have available,"
"Very well, then. It looks like our trip here wasn't a complete waste of valuable time, after all. I won't be taking away your rank today, Lieutenant Kaizu. I'm sure your ineptitude will take care of that sooner rather than later. Mai, Ty Lee, let's get going. We have a lot of work to do,"
Lieutenant Kaizu bowed deeply and didn't stop until the princess of the Fire Nation and her two friends were outside. The unexpected reunion went rather well, all things considered. Maybe he was still a low-ranking officer, but not many people in the army could brag about welcoming the daughter of the Fire Lord into their tent and having a personal conversation with her…
… Who cared about context, anyway?
|Several days later|
"Oh man, this is the life," Sokka moaned in pleasure.
After almost a week of going from one place to another, and camping in either forests or open fields, the adventurous group of teens found the perfect spot to spend their last day of travel before they reached Gaoling. It was already evening when Appa let out a long and boisterous yawn during mid-flight, letting his passengers know that he was getting tired. Not wanting to push his furred friend to his limits when there was no need, Aang announced that they would have to continue their journey tomorrow so that Appa could rest.
As they began their descent from the skies, Sokka caught sight of a big cloud of vapor coming from below. Upon coming closer to the source of the vapor, they realized they had come across a natural hot spring, and Sokka flat out demanded Aang to land there. The monk was happy to comply, as he was eager to explore the hot spring as well. Once they landed, Katara used her Waterbending to check the water's temperature and make sure it wasn't too hot. Once she deemed it was safe to take a bath there, the Avatar and the Water Tribe siblings took most of their clothes off and got into the large steaming pool.
"I can feel my flesh and bones melting away… and I'm completely fine with that," Sokka said in a relaxed tone of voice, resting his head on the edge.
"That makes us two, Sokka," Aang replied, enjoying every second of it. Since they spent most of their time traveling, training, or confronting Fire Nation soldiers, taking a warm bath without having to worry about anything was a luxury they rarely could afford.
"Shujinko, aren't you going to join us?" Katara asked. While everyone got undressed, Shujinko began to unload their tents and sleeping bags, without paying much attention to the hot spring.
"Sure, just give me a second. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he exclaimed, and an identical copy of him appeared out of a puff of smoke. "I need you to scout the perimeter. Make sure there are no strangers or dangerous predators wandering around. If you have to dissipate yourself, wait until you're out of sight," The clone nodded in understanding and went on his way.
The oldest boy of the group let out a conflicted sigh. "It doesn't matter how many times I see that, I don't think I'll ever get used to it… Hey, now that I think about it, why do we still have to carry our bags around and raise our tents when you could have your clones do our chores? Wouldn't that make things a lot easier for us?"
"I'm not gonna' use Ninjutsu just so that you don't have to carry your bag, Sokka. It's not even that heavy," the Chunin replied as he took off his boots and removed his black wrist warmers and bandages that covered most of his forearms. Since everyone was wearing their underwear as bathing suits, he supposed he should do the same thing. Even Katara was wearing her white underwear, although the Water Tribe girl also wore an extra set of clothes that did a great job at covering her female attributes so that she wouldn't feel uncomfortable in the presence of other guys right now. "And besides, you can't be careless when it comes to Ninjutsu, especially the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It's a technique that can be deadly for you if you don't use it right,"
"Deadly? Why do you say that? We've seen you use it a couple of times already and nothing wrong has ever… happened… to you," Sokka trailed off. Both Aang and Katara saw the conflicted look on Sokka's face and turned their heads around to where Shujinko was, and they became silent as well.
Once he was left with only his black boxers and his golden feather necklace on, the Avatar, the waterbender, and the boomerang-wielding teen received a clear view of Shujinko's naked upper body. Even though they already knew Shujinko was a warrior back in his homeland, they never expected him to already have scars on his body at the age of fourteen. His right forearm, as well as the back of his right hand, sported several skin lines that varied in size and length, but they all seemed to follow the same pattern. The most notorious scar was a set of five shaky lines located between his belly button and the left side of his hips. They saw other scars on his biceps and calfs, but those were much easier to miss.
While Shujinko dipped his toes into the water to see how hot it was, Aang, Sokka, and Katara sat there, processing what they had just seen. Being the pacifistic airbender that he was, Aang didn't want to imagine the sort of violence Shujinko had been subjected to. He was aware that he had grown to be more sensitive than others towards conflict thanks to the monks and the way they had raised him, but the Avatar was sure that anyone with some sense of humanity would be disgusted by Shujinko's wounds and what they represented: The monstrous and vicious side of mankind.
Sokka had mixed feelings of awe and discomfort. He had seen his fair share of scars before when he was a kid during the days when the warriors of his tribe returned from battling the Fire Nation. The warrior side of him considered scars and other similar war wounds to be the marks of a tested fighter, and in a naïve kind of sense, he couldn't help but somewhat admire Shujinko for having them, as it proved that he had faced danger in the past and stood victorious in the end. However, when he started to think how painful it must've had been for the brown-haired teen to survive such injuries, Sokka shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and he realized he was unconsciously rubbing the same part of his stomach where Shujinko's five-pronged scar was.
Katara simply had no words. Just like her brother, she had seen scars before, but never on the body of a boy who shared her age. How could anyone be so brutal and heartless was beyond her. She had some doubts regarding the scars on Shujinko's forearm, as they could've been the result of an accident, but Katara was willing to bet her mother's necklace that the ones on his belly had been anything but an accident. Something, or someone, had injured Shujinko and nearly got him killed, because despite not being an expert on the subject, she could easily picture an adult dying from blood loss after suffering wounds of that degree… and Shujinko was just a teenager…
"Aaaah, that's so much better," Shujinko said after submerging his head into the water and slicking his wet hair back. Once his vision was clear, he saw three pairs of eyes staring at him, although none of them met his gaze. "Did I miss something? You guys were talking just fine like ten seconds ago,"
"It's nothing. We're just… enjoying the bath," Aang spat out the first excuse he could come up with before slowly sinking into the water, leaving only half of his face above. Seeing Shujinko's scarred body had left a bad taste in his mouth.
Shujinko then saw Katara turning her head away as soon as he searched for her gaze. When he tried to do the same with Sokka, he flinched and stared at the water, awkwardly pressing the corners of his mouth. 'What's up with them? Why are they so quiet all of a sudden?' Shujinko wondered. It obviously had something to do with him, but he hadn't done anything to deserve the silent treatment, had he?
Since no one wanted to talk any longer, he turned around, placed his arms on the surface of the hot earth and rested his head on them. Shujinko probably would've found the bath to be a lot more relaxing had it not been for the unexpected and pointless silence. It's not like he was dying to have a conversation with any of them, but it annoyed Shujinko not knowing what caused the sudden mood swing, if anything because it had something to do with him and he had yet to figure out what it was.
Twenty minutes later, they all got out of the water, shivering at the passing breezes after bathing in hot waters for a prolonged period of time. Katara used her Waterbending to remove the water from everyone, leaving them completely dry in a matter of seconds. They all got dressed and barely spoke to one another. Shujinko was starting to run out of patience, so he made a last-ditch attempt at maintaining the cohesion of the group. "I suppose we can spend the night here. The vapor might provide some cover for us if we don't stray too far. Who's gonna help me with the tents?"
"… Uuuh, I'd love to, but it's my turn to find enough wood so we can get a fire going and keep us warm," Sokka replied hastily, slowly walking away. The Ozuma couldn't believe how stupid of a lie Sokka's answer was. There were no trees anywhere near them, and why would Sokka want to make a fire when they were in a natural hot spring? The temperature of the place was high enough to make them sweat, so making a fire was utterly pointless. Heck, they could very well sleep without the tents tonight. Shujinko asked for help just to check their reactions.
Katara didn't hesitate to follow her brother's example. "I have to find a source of clean water that we can use to cook our dinner," the waterbender said. It sounded like a reasonable excuse since the water of the hot spring was unsafe for consumption, but Shujinko clearly recalled how two days ago she announced that they were running out of supplies again and that bread, vegetables, and fruit would have to make do until they reached Gaoling. None of those were required to go through a cooking process in order to be eaten, and they never bothered to make elaborated dishes with what they had since they didn't have the time or the interest for doing so.
Almost too predictable, Aang came up with his own pretext. "And I have to… Uhh, check Appa's ears. Yeah, that's it! He can't reach his ears by himself, so he needs me to scratch them because they sometimes itch, and when they itch, Appa needs me to-"
"Alright, that's it. Enough of this nonsense," Shujinko said all of a sudden, raising his voice so that he could be heard loud and clear. He didn't bother to allow Aang to finish, because whether it was a lie or not, it was more than obvious that he just wanted to get away. "Is any of you going to tell me what is going on? Why are you acting so weird?"
"Weird?" Sokka repeated. "Weird how?"
"Come on, don't play dumb with me. The moment I stepped into that water, you all suddenly became quiet and awkward for no reason. You think I didn't notice that?" Shujinko asked. He wasn't furious or anything, he just didn't like it when people weren't being honest and then tried to feign ignorance in front of him. "Look, if you don't want to tell me something, I won't force you to do otherwise, but don't expect me to buy your act. I'm not an idiot,"
"We've never thought of you as an idiot, Shujinko," Aang said, worried to have offended the Chunin. "It's just that… Well, we…"
"It's just that we don't really know anything about you," Katara finished what Aang couldn't say.
That answer caught Shujinko off guard. "What do you mean you don't know anything about me? Haven't I already told you who I am, where I come from and what I can do?"
"Well, yeah, but… We don't know anything else. We know where you're from and what you can do, but as for you as a person, the only thing we know is your name. It's not exactly easy to talk about certain topics when we have almost no idea of how you're going to react,"
The Ozuma opened his mouth but found himself unable to retort. Katara was right, he hadn't exactly shared much of his personal information. Sure, he had talked to Aang about the Ozuma clan and how they had been wiped out just like the Air Nomads, but there was a difference between talking about the history of your family and talking about yourself.
Over the last few days, Shujinko's interactions with the group had been mostly limited to what should they do next and who was in charge of what. For the most part, he didn't try to start a conversation with them or participate in an already ongoing discussion. He would answer almost every time he was being asked something, and he avoided being rude to them since they didn't deserve it, but Shujinko simply didn't want to open up to them or reveal much about himself. It required some effort from his part, because under most circumstances, Shujinko considered himself to be a pretty normal guy who didn't have much trouble socializing. In fact, if the roles were reversed and Aang, Katara, and Sokka found themselves lost in the shinobi continent, Shujinko was fairly certain he would've befriended them already.
Unfortunately, he was the one who had arrived here, not the other way around. The golden-eyed boy wanted and needed to return home. Everything would've been so much easier if Aang, Katara, and Sokka were ninjas just like him, because that way they would understand his position and his reluctance to develop deeper bonds. It wasn't that he wouldn't have wanted to, he just couldn't afford to. The Water Tribe siblings weren't following Aang only because they wanted to stop the Fire Lord, they did it because the three of them were close friends. Shujinko admired them for their bravery and wanted them to succeed, but that would most likely take years, and the young shinobi had no intention whatsoever to abandon his village or the people he cared for.
However, in the meantime, he was part of their group now, and he was beginning to realize that his shinobi mentality of putting his feelings aside and refusing to truly integrate wasn't going to make them trust him. Shinobis or not, Shujinko knew that no group of people who shared a common goal would truly function as a team if there was no trust, and the Chunin knew he hadn't done much to earn theirs. Or rather, he had been trying to, but he went about it the wrong way by trying to demonstrate that he was useful and cooperative, and while his contributions were appreciated, they hardly made him relatable, and why would any of them trust someone they couldn't relate to?
Once his epiphany was over, Shujinko finally noticed Sokka's hand waving in front of his face. "… Hello, Earth to Shujinko? Guys, I think too much hot water went inside his head. He should've covered his ears when he-"
"I'm fine!" Shujinko exclaimed a bit too loud. Even Momo, who was enjoying a bath in a puddle of water from the hot springs, opened his eyes to see what was going on. "… Sorry for that, I just… I don't like it when people stand too close to me,"
Not a complete lie given how ninjas were raised to keep their distance when dealing with strangers, but Shujinko's shock came from the fact that he had been distracted enough for Sokka to stand right in front of his nose without him realizing it. His thoughts about his current situation with the group were clouding his mind, and he knew things couldn't go on like this.
"Listen, I know that… Ugh, Aang, can you please push some of the vapor away from us? It's annoying to talk when I can barely breathe,"
"Sure thing," the Avatar replied before waving his staff and releasing a gust of wind that took most of the vapor away, clearing their surroundings.
"Thank you. As I was saying, I… Look, I know I haven't been exactly open towards you. And I apologize for calling you out earlier when I had no right to do so. It's just that… It's not easy to deal with all of this. I arrived at a place I didn't even know it existed, and likewise, the people I've met so far don't know anything about the Five Great Shinobi Nations. I have no idea how did I get here or how I'm supposed to return to my village. It may sound stupid to you, but I almost feel like I'm in a completely different world,"
"I know what you're talking about," the monk said, giving Shujinko a compassionate look. "When I woke up at the South Pole, I couldn't believe what was happening. Almost everything was different from what I remembered, and I didn't want to accept it until I was forced to. Trust me, if anyone here understands what you're going through, it's me,"
The Chunin shook his head. "No, you don't understand. Even if everything around you had changed, you could still recognize this world for what it was and the people here can still recognize you for who you are, but me? I'm as foreign to this place as you can get. I might as well come from another reality or something. Honestly, I'm surprised that we even speak the same language,"
Aang bowed his head a little, feeling sorry for the boy in front of him. It had to be awful to find yourself so far from home without knowing how or when you were going to return. When he woke up, Aang could barely believe how much his world had changed, but regardless, it was still his world. Shujinko didn't even know where he was standing. He knew it wasn't his fault, but the monk wished he could help Shujinko the way he helped him before.
After a minute of silence, the brown-haired teen let out a long sigh and did his best to regain his composure. "In any case, I suppose the only thing I can do right now is to keep moving forward, and to do that, I need your help… What I'm trying to say… Is that from here on out, I want to become part of this team, and I mean really become part of this team. I no longer want to be the guy who's tagging along and contributing out of necessity. Going back to my village is my number one priority, but even so, I don't want to think of you guys as traveling companions any longer, but as comrades instead. It might be the only way to make this work. So… What do you say?"
Despite himself, Shujinko couldn't help but feel his cheeks growing slightly red. After being so professional and purposefully keeping his distance with Aang, Katara, and Sokka, exposing this side of him was particularly embarrassing and corny. Had Kiba been there to hear him speak, the boy from the Inuzuka clan would've undoubtedly laughed at him and crack a joke at his expense.
However, the awkwardness faded away when he saw Aang placing a hand on his shoulder, smiling widely. "I don't know why it took you so long to ask, but you can be sure we're gonna do anything we can to help you find your home. You can count on us. Isn't that right, Sokka, Katara?"
Just like Aang, Katara approached Shujinko and placed her hand on his other shoulder, giving him a smile so caring and honest that, for a brief second, Shujinko could've sworn he was staring at his own mother Masumi. "Of course he can. You might not be from this part of the world, but that doesn't mean we can't help you out. We're glad to have you with us, Shujinko,"
"Okay, okay, let's tone down all of this sweetness before I get a cavity," Sokka said. Upon seeing the looks he was receiving, he held his hands in mock surrender. "Geez, it was just a joke, alright? You're a pretty okay guy, Shujinko. Kinda' weird, but still okay. Welcome to Team Avatar,"
Shujinko didn't know what to say. The support and affection shown by those three was so genuine that a tiny knot was beginning to form inside his throat. It almost felt like he was in Team 7 during the days when Naruto, Sakura, and even Sasuke had his back. Despite being as far away from the village as he had never been before in his life, knowing that Aang, Katara, and Sokka had accepted him into their group and were willing to help him in any way possible made Shujinko feel at home, and for the first time in days, he enjoyed a moment of inner peace.
"I… Thanks, guys. This means a lot to me,"
"No problem… Soooo, now that we're all buddy buddies with one another, can you please tell us how you got those scars?
"Sokka, honestly!" Katara exclaimed, shocked by her brother's bluntness and lack of tact.
"What? Don't give me that look, sis. You were wondering the same thing, weren't you?"
The waterbender let out an irritated groan. Of course, she wanted to know about Shujinko's scars as well, but was it really that difficult for Sokka to wait for a more proper occasion before asking such a thing? Katara loved her big brother, but sometimes his inappropriate attitude just drove her insane.
"You saw my scars? That was what made you go quiet?" Shujinko asked. He hadn't considered that possibility, mainly because the scars on his body had become such a common sight for him that he barely paid any attention to them. Despite how they looked, they didn't hurt nor did they slow him down, so it was easy for Shujinko to forget that he had them.
At the same time, it made him wonder how much violence and destruction the three of them had truly experienced. For a group of teens that claimed to be against the war and everything it stood for, they didn't seem like they had seen a whole lot of it if the sight of a bunch of scars was enough to silence them. Had he presented himself to Aang, Sokka, and Katara with a missing arm or a missing leg, then he would've understood their reaction, but the cicatrized marks on his body were hardly a big deal in the shinobi world. If they ever saw Ibiki's head…
"You don't have to tell us about them I you don't want to," Aang was quick to respond.
"Don't worry, I don't mind talking about them… But we should leave that for another time. It's getting late and we all need to get some sleep for tomorrow. How about this? Ask me something else, and if it's not too much of a hassle, I'll gladly answer your question. You deserve at least that much,"
"… Actually, there is one thing I would like to know. All of us, in fact," Katara began to say. "What is that headband and why do you wear it all of the time?"
Shujinko smiled as he pointed at his headband with his thumb. At least this was easy enough to explain. "This kind of headband is worn by almost every ninja. It represents our affiliation to our villages and we must have it at all time with us. I got mine when I graduated from the Academy and finally became a shinobi. The symbol that you're seeing is the symbol of the Hidden Leaf Village, my home," The Water Tribe siblings seemed to accept his answer without much trouble. The Avatar, however, was a different story. At first, he furrowed his brow in deep thought, as if he was recalling something from the past. Then, a gasp escaped from his lips as he gawked, making a fairly accurate imitation of a koi fish. "Aang, are you ok-"
"It all makes sense now!" Aang exclaimed, much to Shujinko's befuddlement. "This has to be the vision I saw in the swamp!"
"What vision? What swamp?" Shujinko asked before addressing Katara and Sokka. "Guys, do you know what Aang is talking about?"
With a very agitated voice, Aang began to explain how they ended up lost inside a huge swamp before reaching Gi Yuin Village. While in that swamp, the three of them experienced different visions of loved ones they had lost at some point in their lives. The Ozuma was heartbroken to hear that Katara had seen her mother while Sokka had seen a princess named Yue, a girl with whom he shared a brief but meaningful relationship not too long ago. Both women had been taken away from them thanks to the Fire Nation, and Shujinko realized that both Sokka and Katara had suffered the effects of war, regardless of how little or how much they had seen of it.
Aang, however, experienced something different. He saw a young girl whom he had never seen before, laughing and playing with a Flying Boar ('Of course, because a Flying Bison just isn't enough here,' Shujinko thought sarcastically). Then, he saw several leaves made out of metal falling from above before they were swiftly blown away by the wind. The three youngsters gathered shortly after, met the 'guardian of the swamp' who explained their visions to them, befriended a group of locals who helped them find Appa, and eventually left the swamp before deciding to stop at Gi Yuin Village for supplies, which was where they found Shujinko.
"… And now that you've told us about your headband, it's all beginning to add up. Those leaves made out of metal that I saw in the swamp were your headband all along, which means that you were one of my visions, Shujinko. We didn't run into each other by accident. I was supposed to meet you at some point,"
"Aang, I'm not really sure about all this," Shujinko said, wrinkling his nose. "I've never been much of a believer when it comes to visions or prophecies. What you saw in that swamp could mean anything. I'm not saying you're wrong, but that vision of yours sounds rather… ambiguous. Don't you think our meeting was just a coincidence?"
"Hey, I don't believe in visions or prophecies either, but even I can tell this is almost too much of a coincidence," Sokka replied. "I mean, Aang saw a vision of leaves made out of metal. Then, we bump into you, a guy with weird powers that no one else, including the Avatar, has. And now, you tell us that the symbol carved into the metal of your headband represents the Hidden Leaf Village. What are the odds of that?"
The golden-eyed teen opened his mouth to retort, but the only thing that came out of it was a short grunt of discomfort. His head was starting to spin, and not because of the high temperature of the place. As much as he hated to admit it, this whole thing about Aang's vision and his arrival to this part of the world certainly had a feeling of destiny to it. However, Shujinko was very skeptical about things like destiny, as he didn't like the idea of his future being written on stone. "You know what? I don't want to think about this. I'm just beginning to understand how this part of the world works, so throwing weird visions out there isn't going to help me right now. I hope you can understand,"
Shortly after, Shujinko's shadow clone returned to the hot springs, informing the group of a safe place nearby where they could sleep. Upon arriving to said place, they found enough sticks had been gathered by the shadow clone for them to start a decent fire. Sokka took care of that while Katara prepared the last of their provisions. Shujinko participated in their conversation and joined them in their laughter, showing a side of him that Aang, Sokka, and Katara never thought they would ever see in him. The foreign boy was, in fact, a lot more likable than what he had made himself out to be at the beginning of their journey together.
When everyone else decided to go to sleep, Shujinko decided to stay awake a little longer, wishing his companions a good night. Once he was alone, the smile on his face faded away, and his narrowed gaze became fixated on the fire.
If what Aang had recently told him was true, then his vision had foretold his arrival. Why? What kind of impact was his presence here supposed to deliver? Because he didn't just run into a group of random teens that happened to be traveling around the world, he met the Avatar, maybe the most famous and legendary being across these lands. No, this could not be a coincidence, nor it could be due to chance or dumb luck. There had to be a reason as to why he was here, but until he regained his memory, he had no other choice but to keep his head up and do what ninjas were best at: Adapt and survive.
'At least I'm not alone in this,' Shujinko thought as he threw dirt at the fire until it was gone. He climbed on top of Appa and didn't bother to use the spare blankets; the weather was so warm and cozy that there was no need for them.
As he stared at the stars, Shujinko tried his best to avoid thinking about his village. Every time he did, he always ended up feeling sad, as he missed his family, friends, and sensei a great deal. If he could only deliver a message there telling them where he was and how he was trying his hardest to return. He wasn't worried about being branded a deserter because Ino's dad would use his mind techniques on him to search for his memories, and Inoichi would vouch for him the moment he realized the absolutely insane circumstances he had found himself in. At least he didn't have to worry about that.
'Mom, Dad, Nanami, Kakashi-sensei, everyone… I'm still alive. Just wait for me a bit longer. I'm doing everything I can to return… Just wait, please…'
Aaaaaaaand that was chapter 5. Hope you all enjoyed it.
Again, lots of talks, virtually no action… Look, I really understand that chapters like these can be boring. You have every right to have that opinion. However, I feel like these deep and long conversations were needed, and I couldn't find a way to put an action scene without messing with the mood. At least Azula made her introduction, and writing her was truly engaging for me, so hopefully, it was engaging for you as well.
Next episode we have the introduction of Toph, and boy do I want her to meet Shujinko. Action will be guaranteed in the next episode, as we have finally caught up with the original A:TLA storyline.
Also, today is my birthday, so you're welcome to show me some love in the reviews. If you don't care about that and wish to give this story valid criticism, be my guest.
Peace!