When Chi Meets Chakra: A Space-Time Adventure Chapter 23 (part 4), a Naruto + Avatar: Last Airbender Crossover fanfic

CHAPTER 23: THE IMPENETRABLE CITY (PART 4)

(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

"We… We really just did that," Suki said, almost shell-shocked as she witnessed the flames of the wreckage from a relatively close distance.

Even though she knew what was going to happen, seeing the power station explode was a surreal experience all the same, especially since she had a hand in it. Before she had time to ask Shujinko what was he going to do to trigger the bombs, Suki saw him raise two fingers, which was immediately followed by a clangorous sound that sent shockwaves across their surroundings. The drill recoiled like a skittish animal as a massive fire sprung up to the exterior, releasing a column of black smoke that grew wide, tall and dense. Pieces of the outer layer went flying, leaving gashes of crooked, twisted steel at the top of the station.

Shujinko, despite not being indifferent to the destruction he had created, was focusing on something else. "It wasn't enough," he muttered, watching as the first two segments of the drill dragged the third wagon with difficulty, but uninterruptedly. "I was hoping that the explosion would cause the drill to stop, but it's only slowing it down. At this rate, it'll still pierce through the walls,"

"What if we go after the remaining power stations?" Suki asked, but the Ozuma shook his head.

"It would take too long and I don't have enough explosive tags to take care of them all. It seems that Aang and the rest are gonna have to finish the job. At least we managed to buy them some time, but whatever it is that they're doing right now, they better do it before…" Suddenly, Shujinko's shinobi senses alerted him of a threat closing in on them. "… We've got company," he declared, turning to the side with a hand resting on his kunai holster.

Sure enough, they were approached by two individuals riding Mongoose Lizards, though to Shujinko they looked like a pair of oversized geckos. They stopped a couple of meters from them before they dismounted their reptilian creatures, and once on foot, Shujinko recognized them as the two girls who defeated the Terra Team by themselves.

One of the girls, the tall one with the brooding face, reminded the Chūnin of Sasuke back when Team 7 was still active. Shujinko once thought that Azula bore a strong physical resemblance to his former teammate, but this one here could easily pass off as a full-blooded Uchiha. Meanwhile, the girl next to her was shorter and less pale. Not only that, but she also seemed to have a more jovial and playful demeanor, at least compared to her friend. Truth be told, he found her quite pretty, not that her looks were remotely relevant right now.

Sasuke's lost cousin subtly accentuated her gaze on him "Are you the ones who did this?"

"If we say no, would it make a difference?"

"I mean, it could," the girl with the braided hair replied innocently. "Azula told us that if we encounter any Earth Kingdom soldiers or friends of the Avatar, we gotta take them out. If you're neither of those things, then we're just wasting our time here. Isn't that right, Mai? Hey, are you listening to me? Helloooo…"

Mai ignored her friend, mainly because she was busy staring at the pair of teenagers before her. Due to the circumstances in which this encounter was taking place, she assumed that those two were working with the Avatar even though she'd never seen them before. Other than her uniform, there wasn't much about the girl on the right that sparked her interest. The boy on the left, however, wore strange clothes and had the brightest golden eyes she had ever seen before.

"So then, what should we do?" Suki asked, keeping her voice down. "Do we stay here and fight or do we make a break for it?"

"I was thinking we should find the others and lend them our support, but we can't do that now that those two have found us. If we try to escape, they'll catch up to us in no time with those giant iguanas they ride on," Shujinko said, stretching his limbs to warm up his muscles. "Therefore, we stay here and fight. Keeping Sulky and Perky busy and off their backs is how we're gonna help Aang, Sokka, and Katara… Besides, I've been meaning to test the strength of the princess' lapdogs myself, so I might as well do it now while I have the chance,"

"Lap Dogs? I've never heard of those," Ty Lee said before her face brightened up with childish excitement. "Are they like pets or something? Because I've always wanted to have a cute little pet of my own! I'd name it 'Toy' Lee since it would be small and adorable just like a toy. Don't you think that's ingenious?"

An abnormally thick drop of sweat grew on Shujinko's temple, and he wasn't the least bit surprised when he threw a sideways glance at Suki and saw an identical one rolling down her face. He even knew she was thinking the same as him without having to ask. 'Is this girl playing dumb or what?'

"Maybe you should worry about what name you'll give your non-existent pet after we're done with these two," Mai replied before she gave her Mongoose Lizard a firm slap on the thigh to make the creature go away. Ty Lee did the same, though her slap was way softer than Mai's as she didn't want to cause unnecessary harm to animals, something that stemmed from years of working alongside them at a circus.

"Who do you want me to take care of?" Suki asked his partner, who didn't answer right away.

"Actually, I'm gonna have to ask you to let me deal with this on my own,"

Upon hearing Shujinko's request, Suki gave him a look of disconcertment. "Huh? But why? If I were to leave now, you'd be paired against the two of them," she said. "I know you haven't seen me in action before, but the warriors of Kyoshi Island are trained for combat, so don't think I can't handle myself in a fight. Plus, the drill is still going,"

"Exactly, and that's why you need to find the others and help them stop it before it's too late. That's our top priority, remember? Don't worry, I've faced opponents a lot worse than them, so please don't argue with me and go already. I'll cover you,"

Although her facial expression showed no sign of it, Mai was slightly intrigued by the boy's words. His tone was not one of arrogance, audacity, or even foolish bravery. It didn't felt like he was trying to offend or belittle her and Ty Lee by claiming to be superior to them. Instead, he simply spoke as if he knew for a fact that he could take on both of them in a fight and come out on top without the help of his friend, going as far as to tell her to leave. No boastfulness, no ego, just cold concentration on the task at hand.

"And if you lose? Then what?" Suki asked.

"If that happens, then you can hold it over my head for the rest of my life if you want to. In any case, you only got two options right now: You can be an asset somewhere else, or you can stay here and be a liability. What will you choose?"

Under different circumstances, Suki would've rightfully taken offense to being called a liability, as if her presence generated more harm than good. However, the clunky noises of the drill reminded her that she couldn't afford to waste time getting angry and that whatever she decided to do, she needed to act now. After a brief moment of consideration, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors concluded that stopping the drill was indeed their top priority and that she needed to make sure the rest of her friends were okay. If she were to remain there, she wouldn't be able to accomplish either one of those things. As for Shujinko…

"When it comes to Shujinko, he's… Well, he's unique. It's as if the more you understand him, the less sense he makes. It's complicated, I know, but everything about him is complicated. He's the kind of person that proves to you that you haven't seen it all, and he does it over and over again, like a big box of surprises that never end. If I told you some of the stuff I've seen him do, you'd think I'm nuts and I wouldn't hold it against you,"

"… If you wind up getting yourself captured or something, I swear to Avatar Kyoshi I won't lift a finger to help you. I mean it," she said, eliciting a small smirk of amusement from the Ozuma. "Good luck," Suki then began to make her way out of there, running as fast as her legs would let her. She feared that if she stopped to think about what she was doing, she's end up reconsidering her decision to leave Shujinko behind, and the last thing she needed was for her feelings to cloud her judgment in a moment of weakness.

'Do they really believe we're gonna let either of them scurry off just like that?' Mai thought as her gaze followed the Kyoshi Warrior. "Ty Lee, go after her,"

"You got it!"

THUCK

Before the chi-blocking expert could leave her friend's side, she was startled by the sight of a metallic weapon whistling across the air before getting embedded into the ground near her feet, causing her to yelp loudly. "Hey, what do you think you're doing? It doesn't matter how cute you are, you shouldn't throw things at a girl! That's totally rude and I could've gotten hurt!"

"Sorry about that, but I can't let you harass my friend," the Chūnin replied. "Besides, I'm the one you two should be focused on, not her,"

"Oh gosh, rude and attention-seeking? You won't find a girlfriend any time soon with an attitude like that! Not even Mai goes around… Mai?" To her surprise, Mai had her eyes glued to the star-shaped weapon, staring at it with so much attention that it was even visible on her typically unresponsive countenance. Ty Lee knew very well how hard it was to get that sort of reaction out of the stony markswoman, which was why she immediately began to worry. "Mai, what's going on? Why do you have that look on your face?"

…

"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 slight interest. "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,"

…

"As it turns out, the Avatar has made a new ally. You remember Shujinko Ozuma, the one Lieutenant Kaizu told us about. Well, I finally got to meet him face to face and check whether the rumors about him had been exaggerated or not,"

"… From what I saw, Shujinko has a… particular set of skills. He's agile both in mind and in body, and he's capable of close, medium, and long-range combat. Had I been less cautious, he would've taken me by surprise. It's a shame that someone with his potential decided to side with the Avatar and his gang of peasants instead of joining us,"

…

"…Ty Lee, stay put," The circus acrobat blinked in confusion, unable to understand why was Mai telling her to do the opposite of what she had commanded her to do a second ago. The look on her face was also different from before, for she now seemed apprehensive, almost rattled by the revelation that had dawned on her. Immediately after, Mai drew one of her throwing knives and cocked her arm back, ready to throw it at any moment. "You're Shujinko, aren't you?"

"Shujinko?" Ty Lee repeated in shock. "As in, Shujinko Ozuma, the guy we were talking about right before we felt the explosion? Who faced Azula at that abandoned town the Avatar led her to? What makes you think he's the one?" she asked as she pointed a finger at the brown-haired boy.

Although this wasn't the time for distractions, the Chūnin couldn't help but think about how weird it was to be recognized by complete strangers as if he were some sort of celebrity. Back home, most villagers weren't even aware of his existence, which was the case for the great majority of his fellow comrades. Unless you were the Hokage, you'd have to be an exceptionally famous ninja for civilians to know who you were. In fact, as a shinobi, you were more likely to be recognized by your enemies than by the people of your village if your reputation on the battlefield preceded you.

"You heard about me from Azula, huh? Well, I have no idea what you were told by that bigheaded pyromaniac, but if she gave you an honest account of the encounter we had, then you already know it won't go well for you if you try to challenge me. Why don't you girls do the smart thing and get out of here while you still can? The drill's barely working and it won't be long before it stops completely, so you might as well call it quits now and live to fight another day,"

"That's precisely why we're taking you with us. If the drill does get stopped, this whole thing will have been for nothing. However, if we manage to escape with you as our hostage, then at least we'll get something out of this. That way, Azula will have someone to take all of her frustration out on, and that's good enough for me," Mai replied. "Ty Lee, go block his chi. I got your back,"

A broad smile spread on Ty Lee's face as she began to wiggle her fingers along with her wrists, getting them loosened up. She was excited for the opportunity to engage Shujinko in combat, for if Azula herself had praised his abilities (in her own fashion), then it was practically impossible that an encounter with him could be boring. In any case, she was fairly confident in her own skills, and she also had the assistance of Mai, whose superb marksmanship complemented the acrobat's fighting style better than anything else. They knew each other's moves so well that it was almost telepathic the way they coordinated their attacks together in battle.

"I wish I could have him all for myself, but I guess this is the next best thing. Alright, here we go!" Ty Lee exclaimed, charging at her opponent with a level of speed that almost caught the Chūnin's interest.

Instead of making a beeline for him, Ty Lee kept altering her trajectory, swerving to the sides at random in order to confuse her target and making it harder for him to read her line of attack as she got closer. The intention of the acrobat was to land a hit on Shujinko's right shoulder so that he would no longer be able to use his right arm, assuming that the boy was probably right-handed given that he was waiting for her in a fighting stance with his right arm pulled back.

'If he's going for a punch, that's fine by me. It'll make him expose his shoulder and give me the opening I'm looking for. I just need to land my hit before he lands his, then I'll have all the advantage,' she thought. All of a sudden, Shujinko charged at her enemy even though Ty Lee was already dangerously close to where he was, which prompted the chi-blocker to throw a jab sooner than anticipated. 'Gotcha'!'

SWOOSH

Ty Lee's eyes went wide with surprise when her fingertips touched nothing but air even after fully extending her arm. Meanwhile, the figure of the Ozuma kept retreating until it stopped a few feet away from her, having dodged the blow by hopping backwards at the last second. Shujinko was careful not to place too much distance between himself and Ty Lee so that if Mai wanted to take a shot, she'd have to either keep switching positions or risk injuring her friend instead of her intended target.

"So you do rely on finger jabs to attack," Shujinko said, his gaze alternating between the circus performer and the stoic knife-thrower behind her. "That's how chi-blocking works, right? You make use of highly precise strikes to close a bender's chi points, leaving them unable to bend and incapable of moving their muscles. It's a pretty valuable skill to learn in a place like this, I'd imagine,"

"How do you know all that?" a baffled Ty Lee asked.

"Most of it I heard from a friend who ran into you some time ago, the rest I deduced it myself," he responded. Based on that brief interaction from earlier, Shujinko came up with an estimation of Ty Lee's speed, but that wasn't the only element that mattered when it came to hand-to-hand combat, meaning that there was still some probing left to be done, both physically and mentally. "Well, what are you waiting for? Are you gonna stand there all day like a twerp? Because if so, please tell me so that I can go take care of your friend back there. I mean, if poking people is your thing, then I have nothing to worry about, especially since you're not even that good at it from what I just saw,"

A combination of anger and embarrassment made Ty Lee's face grow red. No one had ever mocked her proficiency in the art of chi-blocking before, not even Azula. In fact, her abilities were the reason why the princess of the Fire Nation had recruited her in the first place, extending the invitation in person, so being dismissed like this struck a raw nerve. The fact that Shujinko had the cockiness to say what he had said after dodging her attack once only made her more upset. "Fine, you asked for it! Prepare to have your body paralyzed from head to toes!" the girl shouted as she rushed towards the Ozuma.

Ty Lee then unleashed a barrage of finger jabs at Shujinko, targeting any part of his body within her reach. Although she was now driven by her desire to make the boy swallow his words, Ty Lee did not allow anger to hinder her movements, executing each strike with the swiftness and accuracy of an expert. Moreover, her years working at the circus as an acrobat had helped her develop an enviable level of flexibility and balance, traits that allowed her to refine her fighting style and make it her own.

… However, and for the first time in her life, Mai watched in astonishment as Ty Lee's incessant thrusts failed to touch her adversary as he continued to evade her every attack almost without effort. The damn brat wasn't even pushing back or trying to retaliate; he simply moved out of the way and occasionally swatted her hands aside. As if that wasn't enough, rather than moving around aimlessly, Shujinko kept leading the acrobat further and further away from Mai as the fight went on, and while Mai's aim was outstanding, not even she was capable of hitting her target past a certain distance, much less if that target refused to hold still.

Shujinko could tell that Ty Lee was a really good fighter for her age, but likewise, she seemed to be a one-trick pony. She kept insisting on blocking his chi points (or chakra points in this case) even though it clearly wasn't working. Also, unlike other fighting styles such as Rock Lee's Strong Fist, chi-blocking relied almost exclusively on the use of an individual's arms to attack, meaning that the legs were only used for movement. It made sense given that it was much harder (if not impossible) to block an enemy's chi point with one's feet, but at the same time, not performing kicks heavily limited the number of combinations someone could pull off, which in turn made a fighter predictable.

"Is this all you've got? Come on, I'm about to fall asleep here," the Chūnin said. He wasn't a big fan of taunting his opponents during a confrontation, but if doing so managed to get Ty Lee to lose focus, then he had no qualms about playing the part of an arrogant prick mid-battle. After all, theatricals and performances were inherent to a shinobi's job, and in this instance, it worked like a charm.

"Shut-up-and-stop-moving,-you-big-jerk!" the chi-blocker yelled out loud, matching each word with one of her blows. At this point, Mai was already jogging towards their position wielding several throwing knives in her hands. Seeing Ty Lee attempting to land a hit on Shujinko so fervently made her hopeful, for she knew that all her friend needed to do to win was to connect a single hit. One slip and that guy would be done for.

Unfortunately for Mai, her hopes were unfounded. It had only been five minutes since the start of the match, but Ty Lee had spent those five minutes throwing jabs at the Chūnin nonstop while chasing after him, displaying quite a bit of tenacity and never lowering the intensity of her efforts… which was exactly what Shujinko had wanted her to do from the very beginning.

By now, Ty Lee's face was drenched in sweat. She was frantically trying to provide the oxygen her lungs were begging for and her arms felt sore after so many failed thrusts. The golden-eyed boy took notice of how the chi-blocker's jabs became slower, sloppier, and less frequent. He could hear Ty Lee gasping for breath loudly and clearly while the rhythm of his own respiration was almost the same as it was prior to the start of the encounter. Betrayed by her own eagerness, Ty Lee went from being a spry and energetic chi-blocker to an extenuated girl clumsily throwing her arms around.

With this in mind, Shujinko decided he had waited long enough. Before Ty Lee's fingers could make contact with the center of his pectorals, the Ozuma grabbed her by the wrist and raised her arm before driving his fist into her naked belly, knocking the wind out of her. Small drops of saliva came flying out of her mouth as her feet were lifted off the ground for a few seconds. Still holding her wrist, Shujinko pulled her back down and delivered a side kick to her upper chest that sent her rolling across the terrain, skidding and eventually stopping shortly before Mai arrived.

"Ty Lee!" Mai exclaimed as she kneeled down next to her friend, whose face was smeared with dust and dirt. Her eyes were shut hard and she was gritting her teeth, struggling between breathing and dealing with the pain, resulting in several coughs. The acrobat was still conscious, yet weak to the point where she could barely move after exerting herself.

Ty Lee opened her eyes halfway, and Mai was shocked by how vulnerable and delicate she seemed all of a sudden, as if instead of an expert chi-blocker, she was staring at a fragile child, a fragile child who despite having a completely opposite personality and attitude to hers, was still Mai's best friend from childhood. Mai tore her gaze away from Ty Lee and looked at the one who had left her in such a state, only to find Shujinko staring back at them with an expression that conveyed apathy more than anything. He didn't appear smug nor thirsty for more action, but merely indifferent, as if what he had done to Ty Lee just now meant nothing to him.

Somehow, that felt like an even bigger insult to Mai. Fueled by a feeling of ire that was most uncharacteristic of her, the markswoman didn't hesitate to hurl a small dagger at the brown-haired boy as she got up. The distance between him and her was relatively short, short enough for Mai's dagger to injure any part of the Ozuma's body that she aimed at, but her weapon whirred past his head after Shujinko ducked down, having seen the attack coming the moment that Mai cocked her elbow.

"Nice try, but you won't accomplish anything throwing stuff at me," he warned her. "You look like you're a little more clever than your friend, so take my advice and get out of my sight already. There's nothing left for you to do here except lose. Well, losing and taking a beating while you're at it. Just leave before I decide to add more red to your clothes,"

CLANG

Sparks emitted from the clash of a second dagger hurled by the markswoman and the Chūnin's kunai. Mai could not help but gulp after witnessing Shujinko deflect her knife with a single stroke, using a weapon he had drawn out of a holster strapped to his right leg. It was an iron-black knife with a leaf-shaped, four-edged blade. Its handle was wrapped in bandages and had a ring-like pommel. The length of the blade was neither too short nor too long, meaning that it was sufficiently practical to be both swung and thrown around.

Now that there was no turning back, Mai stepped away from Ty Lee and got ready for what was about to come, unwilling to stand down and accept defeat just like that. At the same time, she acknowledged the fact that the enemy she was facing was on a whole different level, and although her gift for marksmanship alone had given her the means to fend for herself so far, she was going to need more than talent to beat someone like Shujinko.

'Whatever happens, I can't let him get too close to me or I'll be finished,' she thought as she slid another dagger out from her sleeve. Being ambidextrous allowed Mai to throw weapons with her left hand just as accurately as she would with her right hand, which was a lot more convenient than having to rely on a predominant one. 'I don't have enough weapons to keep him at bay for long, so I have to make all of my shots count and my timing needs to be perfect. With Ty Lee, I was convinced that we'd be able to capture him alive, but if it wasn't impossible then, it certainly is now. In the end, it's either him or me,'

…

SWOOSH

The dagger was thrown, and just like the last time, it was effortlessly brushed off by Shujinko, who was now dashing towards her. As soon as that happened, Mai swung her left arm, firing off several stilettos at once during the Chūnin's sprint, forcing him to perform a sideways summersault in order to avoid the volley of projectiles. This last-moment dodge gave Mai a few seconds to move out of her position and fire off another volley of stilettos from a different angle, emptying the spring-loaded holsters she wore on her wrists.

Having lost some acceleration and unable to jump again on such short notice, the Ozuma evaded the incoming stilettos by taking a dive forward and sliding across the coarse ground with the back of his body. While effective, this maneuver ended up costing him what remained of the momentum he had gathered and restricted his movability, something that Mai was more than willing to take advantage of as she readied a small throwing knife.

But the brown-haired boy answered first this time, and as his slide was coming to an end, he hurled his weapon before she could hurl hers. Miraculously, the kunai went in and out of Mai's left sleeve in her attempt to move out of the way, tearing two holes in it and grazing the dorsal side of her forearm. While it was a minor flesh wound of little consequence, Mai yelped all the same, more out of shock than actual pain. If the same cut had been done to the palmer side of her forearm, several veins could've been compromised and a lot more blood would've been spilled.

When she came back to her senses, the markswoman saw Shujinko coming from the left, to which she took out a couple of throwing stars. The shape of these throwing stars was fairly similar to Shujinko's shurikens, except that the blades were thinner and their tips were bent. Mai threw the stars in quick succession, but to her disbelief, the golden-eyed boy dodged every one of them by performing a series of handsprings and cartwheels mid-run. His acrobatic skills weren't quite on par with Ty Lee's in terms of elegance and finesse. Still, the fact that he could pull them off right away while avoiding enemy fire was nothing short of remarkable.

Instead of going after his opponent, the Ozuma kept his distance and got around her, stopping to retrieve the kunai he had thrown earlier. Mai was down to her last two throwing stars by now, holding one on each hand. As soon as Shujinko lifted the kunai off the ground, he used his free hand to throw a shuriken at the markswoman, forcing her to counter the attack with one of her stars. The two weapons collided, and just when Mai was about to return the gesture, she noticed that her adversary was no longer in front of her, as if he had vanished all of a sudden.

'W-What the-?'

"Over here!"

Mai instinctively looked up. Somehow, Shujinko was descending from above as if he had fallen off a four-story building. Just when Mai's brain was beginning an attempt to rationalize what she was witnessing, her survival instinct kicked in upon seeing the Chūnin's kunai leaving his grasp and coming her way. The markswoman jumped back and successfully evaded the knife, which landed a few feet away from her previous position, much to her surprise and relief. But unlike her surprise, her relief was short-lived, for she then caught sight of Shujinko landing in front of her, making strange gestures with his hands.

By the time she remembered the weapon in her hand, the Ozuma was already thrusting his palm, and Mai could've sworn it was surrounded by shifting air. "Wind Style: Gale Palm!"

SWIUUUUUUSH

Mai was sent flying back, propelled by a violent and abrupt force that manifested itself in a burst of wind. For a brief moment, she was little more than a ragdoll flailing its limbs around before her body made contact with the ground, bouncing on it once and then rolling away in a less than dignified manner. Not suffering too many blows to the head allowed her to stay conscious the whole time, though just barely, and it only forced her to feel every bit of punishment the rest of her body endured in the process. Her refined clothes were now in tatters, as if a dangerous predator had clawed at them.

When she finally stopped moving, Mai found herself lying flat on her back shivering in agony, to the point where she could hardly recall what had happened to her, much less explain it. She didn't feel any of her bones had broken in spite of the many hits she'd received, but no part of her body was left unscathed. A hiss escaped from her lips when she tried to move her left arm, having sprained her wrist, elbow, and shoulder. Aside from all other injuries, the forepart of her body was full of slight scratches, almost as if somebody had brushed the surface of a razor against her skin as a result of the slashing nature of Wind Style Ninjutsu.

Ty Lee, who was literally starting to get back up on her feet, observed the incomprehensible chain of events unfolding before her eyes and watched Mai getting blasted away by a current of air that the Ozuma had expelled from his hand. It looked just like Airbending to her, which would've been a perfectly reasonable conclusion if it weren't for the fact that the Avatar was supposed to be the last airbender alive while Shujinko was a… Well, she didn't rightly know what he was, but he couldn't be an airbender, right? Yet, at the same time, whatever it was that Shujinko had done to Mai was so similar to Airbending that it couldn't be likened to anything else Ty Lee could think of, resulting in a conundrum for which she had no answer.

WAASH

Before anything else could happen, Shujinko and Mai were interrupted by the sound of a blasting noise from afar. All of a sudden, a massive amount of brownish slurry came bursting out of the upper slots of the drill like water out of a whale's blowhole, disjointing all five segments of the titanic machine in the process. This caused the entire drill, which had already suffered an almost crippling blow at the hands of Shujinko and Suki after the two of them blew up one of the power stations, to stop and collapse right before it could fully pierce through to the other side, leaving the drill bit jammed in the wall. The outer layer of the remaining segments fell apart as if it were a busted suit of armor, crumbling amidst smoke and soot.

The majestic war tool of the Fire Nation, the one that was supposed to bring Ba Sing Se to its knees, was now a gigantic garbage bin that had been dislocated, battered, trashed, and rendered useless.

"It's done," Shujinko declared, watching with relief and satisfaction as the drill broke down. Rather than letting herself be taken aback by what had just happened, Mai saw this as the ultimate chance to get the drop on the Ozuma, who had left his back wide open by turning around.

Having nearly run out of throwing knives and stilettos, she reached for the sai that she kept strapped to the back of her waist, a weapon that she only used as a last resort when a guaranteed kill was in order. It was meant for close-quarter combat, but Mai knew that lunging at Shujinko with a knife would be suicidal even if she attacked him from behind, so throwing it at him was her only option.

Mai's heart was pounding in her chest as she slowly began to move her hand towards the three-pronged dagger. It was unlikely that the Chūnin would remain distracted for much longer and the weight difference between her regular throwing knives and the one she was about to brandish might hinder her draw Also, there was always a sharp sound that was made whenever she slid her sai out of its leather sheath, which would most likely alert Shujinko on the spot. Added to all of that was the sorry condition of her body, which only augmented the difficulty of what she was hoping to accomplish.

Therefore, Mai was going to have to take her shot as soon as her grip on the handle was firm. If she delayed her throw for even a fraction of a second, she'd be finished.

…

'… Now!' the markswoman unsheathed her weapon and pulled her arm back as quickly as possible, ready to end this once and for all.

POOOOOF

Before she could complete a full throwing motion, Mai was caught off guard by a sudden burst of smoke that appeared out of thin air right where her target was standing on, causing her to stop at the last moment without the remotest idea of what was going on. Her bafflement reached its peak once the cloud dissipated, which was when she realized the golden-eyed boy was nowhere to be seen despite being in front of her an instant ago, as if he had evaporated along with the smoke.

A loud yelp prompted Mai to turn around, and what she saw next made her body recoil in shock.

A weakened and terrified Ty Lee was lying on her stomach with Shujinko on top of her back, completely subdued by him. The Ozuma had somehow gotten behind the chi-blocker and pinned her down to the ground, restraining her arms by placing his left knee on one of her wrists and his right foot on the other. Then, in a spine-chilling act of ruthlessness, he grabbed Ty Lee's braided ponytail and used it to pull her head back while holding a kunai to her neck, indifferent to the girl's painful yelps.

"Time to wrap this up," the Chūnin said, a gelid stare in his golden eyes. "I hope you girls had fun, because this is over,"

"Let her go," Mai demanded almost loudly enough to be shouting, still wielding her sai as she got into a throwing stance. "Get off of Ty Lee right now,"

"Or else what? What are you gonna do about it? In fact, what can you even do? If you throw that knife, your friend will be dead before it ever touches me, and then it'd be your turn. But hey, if that's how you'd like to go out, then by all means go ahead,"

Mai cursed to herself, struggling to come to terms with the position she was in. She never would've imagined that things would go this badly for them today. The fact that the drill had been stopped was already a major loss as the opportunity to take Ba Sing Se had gone up in smoke, and now she had to stand there and watch her friend suffer at the hands of one of the Avatar's friends, aware that one false move or even one wrong word might cost Ty Lee her life. Mai wanted to believe that this was nothing more than an intimidation tactic, a threat that Shujinko wasn't really going to follow through on, but there was nothing she could do to prove her hunch right.

"What do you want?"

"It's simple. At first, all I wanted was to keep the both of you away from the drill so that you wouldn't cause my friends unnecessary trouble. That's why I offered you the opportunity to flee twice, but now my gut tells me I should nip the problem in the bud and get rid of you two before you create more problems for us down the line. I'm currently leaning towards doing that, and if you want me to change my mind, tossing aside your weapon in the next ten seconds would be a start,"

The markswoman hesitated. It was obvious that her enemy was hoping to get something out of this, evidenced by the fact that he had yet to kill either of them. Surrendering her sai would leave Mai completely defenseless, but after seeing first-hand the kind of danger Shujinko posed, she realized that holding on to her weapon wouldn't make much of a difference in a fight against him anyway. With this in mind, she extended her hand and dropped the knife, making sure that it would still be within her immediate reach should anything happen.

"That's not how you toss a weapon aside, but fine. Just don't try to pick it up or you won't live to regret it," the Ozuma said. "Now then, there are a few questions I'd like to ask. Azula, the girl with the blue Firebending, is she really the princess of the Fire Nation as she claimed?"

"Yes," Mai responded curtly, a little thrown off by the question. It felt weird having to affirm something that even the most ignorant bumpkin of the Fire Nation knew to be true, and the fact that the one who asked the question was holding Ty Lee at knifepoint made it that much weirder.

"In that case, why is she here? Why would a princess of a nation be sent after the Avatar when you already have soldiers looking for him?"

"Fire Lord Ozai wants the Avatar out of his way. He gave the task to Azula because he knows she won't fail him. That's all there is to it,"

Somehow, Shujinko found it hard to believe that a man would willingly entrust his own daughter with a mission of such proportions when he had an entire army of soldiers to choose from. Surely there had to be at least one person of greater or similar skill who could've taken her place under the premise of being more expendable than the nation's very own princess. Out of the thousands of troops under his command, Azula happened to be the most qualified candidate for the job? Did Ozai have that much faith in her?

The Chūnin had already fought her once and she was arguably the strongest bender he had ever faced so far (not that Shujinko had faced many other benders to begin with). Still, when it came to royal dynasties and monarchic governments, Shujinko was pretty sure there was an unwritten rule of thumb about rulers not placing their heirs and heiresses in danger so that the family line may continue to grow. From his perspective, what Fire Lord Ozai had done would be the same as if the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire ordered his successor to participate in a war instead of a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village.

'Whatever, if the Fire Lord is willing to lose his daughter, then good for him,' the brown-haired boy thought, not wanting to get distracted at a moment like this. "There are two other individuals from the Fire Nation here in the Earth Kingdom, whose names are Zuko and Iroh. Who are they and what's their involvement in this war?" This time, Mai didn't answer right away, and although he couldn't tell for sure due to the distance, Shujinko could've sworn he saw a brief shift in Mai's facial features when he mentioned Zuko for some reason.

"… Zuko and Iroh are Azula's brother and uncle," she finally revealed. "They have the same purpose in mind as hers. However, those two are not working with or for Azula, nor will they anytime soon as far as I know. This isn't the jolly family trip you're probably picturing in your head right now,"

"Are you telling me that the son and the brother of the Fire Lord are also here to capture Aang?" The Ozuma tried his best to make that question sound rhetorical, but in spite of his efforts, he came off as every bit as surprised as he genuinely was. He could see why Ozai would be keen on hunting down the biggest threat to his nation, but why on Kami's name were the members of the royal family being sent to do the job in person? Why take such foolhardy risks? Was the Fire Lord actively trying to get them killed or what? "What are we talking about here? Some sort of family competition?"

"That's one way of looking at it. If you wanna know what Fire Lord Ozai is thinking, you'll have to go to the Fire Nation and ask him yourself, so now tell me: Are you gonna let us go or did I fail to make you change your mind?"

Shujinko stopped to think for a moment, wondering whether he should continue to press for more details or if he had squeezed enough information out of Mai. She seemed to be telling the truth, nonsensical as it was, and after pushing through a titanic snake in the morning, a mother going into labor in the afternoon, and taking care of the drill before he had even stepped a foot inside the city, the Ozuma just wanted a break. Besides, he was getting the impression that despite being associates of Azula, there really wasn't a whole lot more that these girls could tell him about either her or whatever plans the Fire Nation had.

"There's one more thing I gotta ask. Why are you two partnered with Azula? Why would you want to get dragged into this war?"

"I don't see how that's any of your concerns,"

"And I didn't ask for your opinion, so answer the question already,"

"We did it because she asked us to!" Ty Lee shouted all of a sudden, her teary voice strained and close to breaking. "Azula is our childhood friend and she said she needed our help! We couldn't let her do this all by herself after years of not seeing her! We're not bad people, I swear! Please, just stop, it hurts too much! P-Please-e!"

The wrists of the circus performer were about to snap under Shujinko's knees and the back of her head was killing her with the way her hair was being pulled. Added to that was the unnerving sensation of the cold and sharp steel of the Chūnin's kunai brushing the right side of her neck, aware that even a small cut there would cause her to bleed to death. The pain, the tension, and the uncertainty of not knowing whether she was going to make it out alive or not became too much for Ty Lee to handle.

Without uttering a single word, Shujinko rose to his feet and got off Ty Lee's back before walking away. Upon seeing this, Mai felt a wave of relief, though it only lasted for a couple of seconds before she realized the Ozuma was approaching her with his kunai still in hand.

The pounding inside Mai's chest increased with every step taken by the Chūnin, unable to decipher his intentions. As he drew nearer, the urge to pick up her sai became harder to resist, countered solely by one reminder that she kept repeating inside her head over and over again: If she were to make a move that even suggested harmful intent on her behalf, Shujinko would take her out on the spot. Therefore, she mustered every ounce of self-control within her and stood there with the stillness of a statue, trying to prevent the slightest twitch of her muscles from happening, feeling like a Fox Antelope waiting to be dismissed by a Tigerdillo.

…

Shujinko ended up walking right past the markswoman and then stopped once he was behind her, their bodies facing the opposite direction. Despite having the Chūnin so close to her, Mai managed to remain motionless, for she was under the impression that Shujinko was still somehow aware of her every move even if he wasn't looking at her.

"The Avatar is with me," she heard the Ozuma declare from behind. "Whatever you and Ty Lee decide to do from here on, know this: If I ever, ever, see the two of you doing anything to place either him or any of our friends in danger, I will kill you both like I should've done five minutes ago… And if you think that I'm bluffing, I invite you to attack me now while my back's turned and see what happens,"

|Royal Palace|

Due to their erratic and chancy nature, as well as his own calculating personality, Long Feng had an aversion to unforeseen incidents. He felt the need to be in charge of every single aspect of anything that remotely concerned him, and such frantic necessity wasn't limited to his job as Grand Secretariat of State, Administrator in Chief, and Head of the Dai Li. In simple terms, Long Feng was a purebred control freak, a man who made sure that things got done his way whether in broad daylight or from the shadows that were cast by the towering walls that surrounded Ba Sing Se.

An unforeseen incident that he couldn't use to his advantage, however, was even worse. Staring out the window of his study, Long Feng was currently debating with himself, wondering what to make of this recent development after one of his spies came to him with a written report, which he tossed into the fireplace shortly after reading it. After all, getting rid of information was no less important than acquiring it. 'A giant drill from the Fire Nation…The arrival of the Avatar…'

The giant drill was definitely a problem, one that he had to vanquish as soon as possible. Thankfully, the Avatar and his group of friends had already taken care of stopping the drill before it could fully penetrate the capital's defenses, something that general Sung wouldn't have been able to manage with his abysmal ineptitude. The next step was to dismantle the drill and fix all the damage that had been done to the walls in a way that would escape the king's notice, but doing that would require both patience and time, and while Long Feng was a man of patience, time wasn't always on his side. He had to get to it right away in order to avoid any further inconveniences.

As for the Avatar's arrival, it was an issue that Long Feng had prognosticated months ago. In fact, from the moment he first heard rumors about his return, the Grand Secretariat began to analyze alternatives and hatch contingency plans in case the last airbender ever set foot in his city. Keeping the Earth King away from the young monk was of primordial importance, but despite the power and authority he held, Long Feng didn't have the means to kick someone like the Avatar out of Ba Sing Se at once and in absolute secrecy. Besides, even if he had those means, doing so would instantly make the airbender grow suspicious, thus more driven to seek an audience with Kuei.

No. The Avatar needed to be dealt with through more subtle machinations. He would be welcomed as a guest, invited to stay as a guest, and then persuaded to leave either as a guest or as something else.

Long Feng ordered one of the guards outside his study to contact the Dai Li. Shortly after, a knock on the door was heard, to which he responded with a sharp "Enter". One of his agents then walked into the room and got on one knee, keeping his head hung low. "Greetings, sir. How may I assist you?"

"Contact Joo Dee. Tell her to come here. I have a most special assignment for her,

|Wall of Ba Sing Se|

"… Once we found out about the drill's water pipe networks, we figured those pipes were like the veins of the human body. All it took was some Waterbending-fueled tampering and kaboom! Aang and Katara busted those pipes open big time," a cheerful Sokka told Shujinko, who had joined the rest of Team Avatar a while ago and had asked his friends to bring him up to speed. "Honestly, I thought that we'd just be stopping the drill by doing that. I wasn't expecting the whole thing to break apart and cause as big of a mess as it did, but hey, I'm not complaining. If anything, it just made it more awesome,"

"Well, that explains a lot," Toph commented, frantically cleaning her left ear with her pinky. The blind earthbender's hair was disheveled and sodden while her clothes were soggy, reeking of filth. "While I was outside, I noticed that the drill was beginning to relent, so I kept trying to slow it down. The next thing I know, a mountain of slurry water comes out of nowhere and crashes into me. I can't believe I'm saying this, but even I wouldn't mind taking a bath,"

"What about Azula?" the Chūnin wanted to know. "Did any of you come across her at some point?"

Aang nodded. "Yup, shortly after you and Suki blew up that power station. Since she was only interested in me, I led her outside so that Katara and Sokka could finish the job without getting attacked. It was super tough, I almost didn't make it, but I managed to fend her off by the skin of my teeth. The moment that the drill collapsed, she knew it was pointless to keep fighting and decided to flee just like the last time,"

"Speaking of which, Suki told me that you took on Azula's friends, Mai and Ty Lee," Katara said. When the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors informed her that the Ozuma was facing the chi-blocker and the markswoman by himself, Katara wasn't the least bit worried for his safety, for she knew that those girls were no match for Shujinko. She was, however, apprehensive of the measures he might adopt as he went about dealing with them. "What became of them in the end?"

"Don't worry, I just roughed them up a little and convinced them to go away. I can't assure you they won't bother us ever again, but I think they got the message,"

Shujinko had seen the question coming all along, which was why he had rehearsed his answer beforehand in order to sound casual, when in reality, the golden-eyed boy was second-guessing himself, wondering if he had made the right choice sparing the lives of Azula's friends.

Mai and Ty Lee were enemies of Team Avatar by all accounts. More than that, they answered to none other than the princess of the Fire Nation, who was determined to hunt down Aang. By leaving them alive, Shujinko had not only given them the opportunity to report back to Azula, but also to continue working under her despite his stern warning against it. From a purely practical standpoint, which was often the only standpoint that mattered, the wisest decision would've been to kill them both. After all, they weren't blameless victims or reluctant participants in any of this, and if they were willing to hurt, abduct, or downright kill him, they had to come to terms with the fact that the same thing could happen to them. Such was the way of war.

From his perspective, had he chosen to kill Mai and Ty Lee, Shujinko would've been completely justified in doing so. It might have been the advisable course of action… But in spite of all, he just didn't have it in him to murder two girls who never stood a chance against him to begin with, less so when one of them was crying and begging for mercy as if she was being tortured. Carrying out the deed would've made the Ozuma feel like a monster, and although a proper shinobi would've sucked it up and do whatever needed to be done, he quite simply couldn't bring himself to do such a thing. As he held the kunai to Ty Lee's neck, Shujinko imagined what it would be like to watch Naruto or Sakura getting their throats cut before his eyes, and the thought of it made him feel so sick that he couldn't go through with it.

However, there were limits to his compassion, which was why he had threatened them to stay the hell away from him and his friends from now on. Should their paths cross a second time, it would be an encounter those girls would not survive and the Ozuma would see to it personally. If what he had demonstrated during his fight with Mai and Ty Lee wasn't good enough of a warning for them, then there was nothing left for him to do other than to make good on his promise.

At the end of the day, even if he wasn't a perfect one, he was still a shinobi.

A comment from Suki snapped him out of his train of thought. "By the way Shujinko, I left your backpack under the care of general Sung's men in case you were wondering. I know that you told me to hold onto it, but carrying that thing around while inside the drill probably wouldn't have been a very good idea,"

"That's alright, it's not important. What matters is that we stopped the drill and none of us got hurt in the process. Considering how unexpected this whole thing was, I'd say we did one hell of a fine job," Shujinko said, to which everyone agreed. His eyes then met Suki's and his facial expression changed, resembling that of a student who had finally decided to start working on a boring school assignment that he should've finished by now. "So, seeing as we're officially out of the woods, I guess it's time for me to uphold my end of our deal, right?"

Suki's eyes widened slightly for a moment, followed by a solemn nod of her head. "Right,"

"Deal?" Katara asked. "What's this deal you're talking about?"

"I promised Suki that I would tell her all there is to know about me once we were done with the drill. After everything she has seen me do, there really is no point in hiding the truth from her any longer, especially since she's someone whom you guys can trust,"

Upon hearing that, the members of Team Avatar had the same look of comprehension on them. They immediately realized that Shujinko was going to give Suki 'the talk', and while they could all understand why Suki would want an explanation, they also pitied her for what she was about to hear, remembering how overwhelmed they felt when the Ozuma told them his story for the first time. Sokka was hoping that Suki wouldn't be too impressed by the end of it, not only for the sake of her mental health but also because he feared the possibility of her becoming enthralled by Shujinko once she knew all the incredible stuff he was capable of.

"Do we do this here or should we talk in private?" Suki asked, to which Shujinko shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever it is that you want to ask me, everyone here already knows what I'll respond to you, so it doesn't really matter if we talk alone or not,"

"Fine. In that case, I want you to tell me how-"

"Wait a second," The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors was cut off by Toph, who proceeded to stomp her foot on the ground and raise a block of earth roughly shaped like a chair right next to where Suki was standing. "There, just in case you start getting lightheaded,"

"Thank you, Toph," the Chūnin said before clearing his throat. "Anyways, I suppose I should start from the beginning. Remember when I said I was from Gi Yuin Village? Well, that was a lie. I'm not from there, nor am I from anywhere around here…"

000

Almost a full hour later, Suki was sitting on the earth chair that Toph had provided, frantically massaging her temple.

"… This… is a lot to take in," Suki admitted, struggling to process everything she'd heard up to this point. She turned to Shujinko and looked at him with frazzled eyes, as if she hadn't gotten any sleep in the last two days. "Honestly, you have no idea how much I want to call you a crazy liar. I'd like to pretend that everything you just said to me was nonsense, but I can't do that, not with all of the proof I've been shown. I can't help but think that maybe it was a bad idea to hear you out because now I'm forced to believe you,"

Shujinko, who was standing next to the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, patted her on the back and gazed at her with compassion, letting her know that he understood what she was going through. The poor girl looked stressed out of her mind, though at least she wasn't in denial or being unreasonable. During their conversation, the Ozuma had tried to be as honest with her as possible without being as thorough as he could've been, not wanting to overwhelm Suki with details and explanations he deemed unnecessary. The answers he gave her were stunning enough on their own.

"If it's any help at all, you can be sure that every one of us felt the same way at first," Katara interjected, to which Toph nodded in agreement.

"Sugar Queen is right. Shujinko here is like a character straight out of a storybook, but eventually, you get over it… for the most part… kinda,"

"But the most important thing is that he's with us," Sokka declared with excitement. "All we need to do now is to tell the Earth King about our plan and get his help, which should be a piece of cake. The day the solar eclipse takes place, we'll launch a surprise attack against the Fire Nation. Each and every firebender will be defenseless, and with the Avatar, a ninja, and the Earth Kingdom troops on our side, there's no way we can lose. The Fire Lord is gonna eat dirt! Ain't that right, Aang?"

The Avatar smiled awkwardly at Sokka's words and gave his friend a thumbs-up. Deep down, he wasn't as certain as he'd like to be in regards to their chances. It was true that with Shujinko and the (potential) support of the Earth King, as well as his own increasing abilities as an Avatar, they had a real shot at ending the war during the eclipse. In fact, the odds were in their favor as far as he could tell, but even so, he couldn't bring himself to share Sokka's level of optimism, which was a little out of place given that Aang was usually the optimistic one while the boomerang-wielding boy was the skeptic of the group.

For starters, they had yet to find Appa. Aside from how hard it was to be separated from his life-long buddy, not having Appa with them was a serious inconvenience. They wouldn't have been able to get this far without him and there was still plenty of traveling left to be done. The fact that they had made it to Ba Sing Se where Appa had been taken to was enough to make the airbender feel at least a little hopeful, but that wasn't going to cut it. Appa was a fundamental member of the group and Aang was going to do everything in his power to get him back no matter what.

Then there was the hooded man to worry about… No need to go into specifics on that one.

"I'm glad to know that things are looking up for you all," Suki said as she got up from her seat and took a couple of steps forward, brushing the dust off the fabric of her uniform before crossing gazes with Team Avatar. "Listen, everybody. This trip has been a long, eventful, and rather exhausting experience. I'm afraid I have to call it a day and start heading back to Full Moon Bay,"

Upon hearing this, the expression on Sokka's face shifted from one of excitement to one of visible disappointment, almost as if the boy from the Southern Water Tribe had completely forgotten that Suki was just tagging along for the time being, that she hadn't joined them for good. "Wait… Are you absolutely positive that you can't stay with us any longer? Not even one more day?" he asked, trying not to sound half as disillusioned as he actually felt.

"I'm sorry Sokka, but as much as I would like to, I can't. The reason I came all the way over here was that I wanted to make sure you guys made it safely to Ba Sing Se, and now that you have, I must return to my warriors. My duties are with them," she answered with tangible sadness in her voice. "Shujinko, I want you to do me a favor. Until the war is over, keep looking after these guys and make sure nothing bad happens to them. A ninja shouldn't have any trouble with that, right?"

In response, Shujinko let out a weak chuckle. "It's been plenty of trouble so far, actually. Still, I promise I'll do my best,"

"Thank you. I have a feeling you would've done it without me having to ask, but I wanted to hear it from you all the same,"

"Hang on, Suki," Sokka said before the girl could walk more than six steps. "Since you're leaving, let me walk you to the ferry station. I'd be nice if we could… you know, talk about stuff one last time before we part ways,"

Suki felt her blood rushing to her cheeks, which developed into a blush that she was unable to suppress. She quickly looked away from him, feeling the sudden need to clear her throat several times. "S-Sure, no problem," Suki replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear in a way that reminded Shujinko of how some of the girls in his class used to act whenever they tried to talk to the boy they liked so much… And nine and a half times out of ten, that boy was Sasuke.

Before anyone could ask him what was this all about, Sokka told the rest of Team Avatar that he would be coming back shortly and to please wait for him while he was gone. The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors waved at them goodbye and took her leave with the son of Hakoda, who was hard-pressed not to grab her hand as they slowly made their exit, hoping that whatever the future had in store for him, this wouldn't be the last time he'd ever see the beautiful girl walking next to him.

|Wulong Forest|

Unlike the subjects of the Fire Nation, the tribesmen of the Water Tribe, and the Air Nomads previous to their genocide, the citizens of the Earth Kingdom had never been too attracted to spiritualism in general. It wasn't that they didn't believe in spirits or that they refused to acknowledge their existence, but for most of them, spirits were like stars in the sky: They were so far away from them and affected their lives so little that there was basically no reason to think about them.

Interestingly enough, the Earth Kingdom once had its own religious authority long ago, a collective of elders known as the Earth Sages. These sages used to hold a great deal of power and influence over the land, but what was more important was that they took their divine duties quite seriously. By the time Avatar Kyoshi was born, these men of wisdom and faith had abandoned their spiritual roots and were vastly more involved in politics, becoming sages in name only. Their order was ultimately purged and abolished by Earth King Jialun after they spoke out against his reforms, and the few survivors were made to choose between serving the kingdom as loyal scholars and sharing the fate of their fallen peers.

Although the Earth Sages were now nothing more than entries in history books, some of their deeds from the past could be found in the present. Back when they still pursued spiritual fulfillment, the Earth Sages were behind the construction of many shrines throughout the kingdom in places they believed had some connection to the spirits, and thus were sacred in their eyes. Due to years of neglect and natural causes, most of them decayed completely or were reduced to their bare bones, yet a handful of them were still standing today, even if barely so.

The Wulong Forest was home to one of those shrines, which currently served as the hooded man's shelter.

The hooded man was sitting on a table made from rock, which he presumed used to serve as an altar, cleaning the blades of his spear with a piece of cloth and some oil. Keeping his spear in top condition was very important to him, for not only it was the only weapon he relied on, but he was also very possessive about it. Should it snap in half or grow rusty, he wouldn't even trust the best blacksmith alive to restore his spear, nor would he deem him worthy of touching its pommel.

He had come across this shrine this very day, along with a band of petty bandits and highwaymen that had taken up residence there. One of them, the leader of the band by the looks of it, had stopped him and told him to hand over all of his belongings, showing him a sword strapped to his waist. In response, the hooded man warned them to clear off if they placed any value on their lives whatsoever. After a series of incredulous chuckles, the leader of the band reached for his sword. However, before he could unsheathe an inch of its steel, the leader of the band turned around and dropped to his knees with half of his neck clawed open.

After witnessing their leader die in a pool of his own blood, only a couple of outlaws were brazen enough to attempt any retaliation. Their blood was soon sprayed all over the ground, soaking the hooded man's spear from tips to hilt. The remaining members of the band fled the scene in terror and he didn't care to go after them. The people of this world were like flies to him. As long as they abstained themselves from getting in his way, whether they lived or die was something he considered irrelevant, and allowing them to survive was less of a bother most of the time.

Of course, there was at least one person in this world whom he kept under consideration, and his name, as he had come to learn, was Shujinko Ozuma.

The boy was skilled, that much was undeniable. When they met for the first time in the Hidden Leaf Village, the young Ozuma got the upper hand during their brief scuffle and the hooded man was forced to send both himself and the boy to this world in order to avoid death. In spite of this, it was entirely possible that the whole thing had been just a fluke, a combination of chance and luck, and the hooded man couldn't deny that he had underestimated him. Upon his return to this world, the spearmaster decided that he needed to properly measure Shujinko's abilities, this time by testing him as a warrior.

His test took place in Tu Zin and Shujinko passed with flying colors, showing a combination of fighting prowess and cunningness that ought to be taken seriously. It took the boy everything he had, but in the end, he was the one who was standing victorious while his mud clone melted away. If the golden-eyed teen ever managed to live long enough to reach his full potential, the hooded man had no doubt that he would become a truly formidable shinobi, a force to be reckoned with.

At the same time, the hooded man was able to confirm his suspicions after seeing the extent of the boy's current level of strength, which was why he wasn't afraid of him. He could've easily killed him along with his friends right after the end of their battle, but he wouldn't have felt any sense of fulfillment in doing so. Before the Condemner met his demise, the hooded man wanted Shujinko to see just how big the power gap between them was. He wanted him to realize he never stood a chance in the first place, and the hooded man would make that clear to him once he displayed his full power the next time they faced each other.

It was, after all, his destiny.

Amidst his ruminations, the hooded man sensed the arrival of his hawk, though that didn't interrupt what he was doing. His winged subordinate entered the shrine through a gap on the roof and landed in front of the altar before bowing to the hooded man with grace and elegance that contrasted sharply with its ferocious aspect and freakishly big stature, barely shorter than the average person. "Greetings, my lord," the hawk said. "I come bearing interesting news,"

"Speak," the hooded man replied curtly, his tone far less deferential.

"Your predictions were correct. Shujinko and the Avatar have made it to Ba Sing Se. They reached the capital just in time to intervene in an assault launched by the Fire Nation. They built an enormous drill with which they tried to penetrate the city's defenses and they nearly succeeded, but it stopped working before it could make its way through. The Earth Kingdom soldiers are now working to seize the drill and remove it from the wall. As for Shujinko and his comrades, I imagine they will be staying in Ba Sing Se for the time being,"

"I would imagine so as well, Souta," the hooded man replied as he finished cleaning the blades and moved on to the shaft. "An enormous drill, you said? Hmnh, we must give the Fire Nation credit where credit is due. When it comes to technological advancement, they truly are this world's leading authority. I suppose when you have the piddly power of a mere bender, you have to compensate for it any way you can,"

"Do you think the Fire Nation will win the war, my lord?"

"If they don't, I would not be surprised. A hundred years have passed since they started this conflict, during which the Avatar remained absent up until recently. If they have been unable to obtain complete victory after spending a century in pursuit of it, I have no reason to believe they will achieve a favorable outcome now that the Avatar has returned and has joined forces with the Condemner. Not even I could've anticipated such an intriguing and peculiar twist of events,"

Although the hooded man accepted the existence of coincidences up to a conservative degree, the fact that the Condemner and the Avatar had formed an alliance in such a short amount of time was something that simply could not be attributed to luck or chance. If anything, it only validated what the hooded man had already confirmed: Shujinko was meant to be here in this world. It was a prophetic event written in stone by the hand of destiny, for if not, what other explanation could there possibly be?

"In any case, whether the Fire Nation wins or loses is of little consequence. They have had a hundred years to play at being world conquerors. The Fire Lord is hailed by his people as a god amongst men, when in reality he's nothing but a naïve fool just like his father Azulon and his father before him. His use of force to impose his will is his only virtue, but neither his force nor his will shall be of any use to him when the time comes, and the same applies to the Avatar,"

Souta stared at his master the same way a soldier would look at his commander, waiting for a decisive order to be given. "What can be done to strengthen our position, my lord? Should we remain neutral or pick a side?"

"My original plan was to wait until the end of the war before making another move. However, things have changed now that the Avatar and our esteemed Shujinko are working together. There is no man or woman in the Fire Nation, bender or otherwise, who can pose a threat to the Condemner," the hooded man said, his beady eyes shining with anticipation. "Therefore, unless they are delusional, they won't refuse the chance to level the playfield, and after what happened at Tu Zin, I know at least one person with whom we can try to establish contact. If the Condemner has forged his own alliance, then so shall I,"

|Ba Sing Se's monorail station|

Shortly after Sokka's return, Shujinko and his friends were approached by Sung, who got on his knees and prostrated in front of them as he thanked Team Avatar for what they had done. Before Aang could say it hadn't been a problem at all (which was insultingly untrue, but Aang was simply too humble for his own good), the general asked them if they had an issue with the official record stating that he was the one who came up with the idea of destroying the drill from the inside and that the capture of the Fire Nation's War Minister was made possible thanks to him. In exchange, he promised them money and favors the likes of which a member of the top military brass could grant.

Both his behavior and his proposition were nothing short of pathetic in Shujinko's eyes, who could not believe the Earth Kingdom army had someone like him at the top. Even so, like the ninja he was, the Chūnin masked the contempt he had for him and voiced out his agreement, which incited the rest of the group to concur with him despite how dubious it felt. General Sung was elated to hear that he would forever get part of the recognition that by all rights should go to Team Avatar and made sure to let them know how grateful he was, assuring the teenagers that he would do right by them. Before leaving, Sung ordered one of his guards to escort Team Avatar to the closest monorail station so that they could explore the city at their leisure.

Shujinko didn't have the slightest idea of what a monorail was and tried to guess what it could be based on the name alone. He got his answer once they arrived at the station, and to his immense surprise, the monorail was a transport system that traveled all across Ba Sing Se. After noticing the look on his face, the guard sent by Sung correctly assumed that the boy had never seen anything like it before and took the time to explain how the monorail worked in simple terms.

Basically, passengers entered a wagon pushed by earthbenders that followed a single continuous route with several stops along the way, crossing the Lower, Middle, and Upper Ring in its trajectory. The people who used the monorail had to pay for a ticket that allowed them to go anywhere they pleased for the rest of the season. It wasn't a mind-bogglingly complex concept to grasp, but for somebody like Shujinko, who had grown up in a place where running on top of buildings and jumping on tree branches were the fastest way to get somewhere, the monorail system was truly a revolutionary invention in regards to urban transportation.

'When I get home, I should start working on the first monorail system the shinobi continent has ever seen,' the Ozuma thought, staring with child-like fascination as a pair of earthbenders jumped out of the wagon, allowing another pair of earthbenders to take their place. 'If I can make it happen, I'll become the richest guy in the village. No, the richest guy in the Land of Fire! I'd be set for life!'

Sung's guard was kind enough to pay for their tickets, after which he bid them farewell and began making his way back to his post. As they walked further into the station, Katara suddenly nudged Sokka with her elbow in a playful manner. "So, are you finally gonna tell us what's the deal between you and Suki, older brother?"

"D-Deal? What deal? There is no deal between Suki and me, and I have no idea why would you think otherwise," Sokka replied, visibly flustered. "We just talked and that's it,"

"Riiiight. I can only imagine how close your lips must've been to hers while you two were talking. Anything else you'd like to lie to us about?"

Sokka crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking down at the ground as he felt his ears burning. "I hope you know how unimaginably annoying you are, sis," Sokka muttered, to which Katara smiled triumphantly. "And why are you asking me about this stuff? You've had crushes on plenty of boys in the past and you don't see me getting on your case,"

"Wait, I've had crushes on plenty of boys?" the waterbender asked, now on the defensive. "Let me hear you name one boy I've had a crush on,"

"Sure. How about we start with Haru? You seemed way too interested on saving him and his dad from the Fire Nation. I guess you wanted to make a good first impression on your future father-in-law, am I right?"

Toph raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Excuse me, who's Haru?"

"An earthbender we bumped into a while ago. We met him and his mother at a mining village where it was forbidden to practice any sort of Earthbending. He was a pretty nice guy and it was kind of our fault that he got in trouble with the Fire Nation, so obviously I had to help him out," Katara said in the most unbothered, nonchalant tone of voice she could muster. "Of course, I'm not surprised that my caveman of a brother would perceive that as me having feelings for him,"

Sokka waved his hands in surrender, though the smirk on his face indicated that he hadn't completely run out of ammunition to shoot. "Alright, alright, fair enough… What about Jet, then?"

And thus the huntress became the hunted. This time, it was impossible for his sister to keep her cool, evidenced by the way her eyes widened and how her facial skin darkened, a telltale sign of a Water Tribe blush. "J-Jet? P-Please, you gotta be kidding me! He was a lunatic who tried to trick us into helping him wipe out an entire town and nearly got away with it! Do you honestly think I'd ever have a crush on somebody like that?"

"You tell me, Katara. From what I saw, you seemed very into him before we discovered what kind of nutjob he was. l can still remember how you'd stare at him with lovey-dovey eyes when he wasn't looking. Do you deny ever doing that or do you wish to come clean, sis?"

"Can you please stop this already? We shouldn't make a scene with so many people around us, it's impolite," Aang chimed in.

Indeed, some of the citizens at the station were glancing at Team Avatar, mostly due to the fuss they were making, but also out of genuine curiosity. Although Ba Sing Se was home to refugees from all over the Earth Kingdom, the capital didn't receive many visitors from the Water Tribes. In fact, Toph was the only member of the group whose overall appearance matched that of the locals' while everyone else looked like the outsiders that they were. Feeling the urgency to change the subject as soon as possible, the Avatar turned to Shujinko.

"By the way, why did you agree to give general Sung part of the credit? It's not like I care too much about it and I don't want to come across as mean, but he didn't really do a whole lot. Even the Terra Squad was more helpful than he was,"

Shujinko shrugged his shoulders. "Considering our situation, I think money and favors have more practical value to us than glory does. We don't know anyone here and we certainly don't know how long we'll be staying for. Not only that, but since Appa is one of the reasons we came to this place, we'll probably have an easier time looking for him with the help of a general… even if that general is more buffoon than army officer,"

His answer was enough to stop Sokka from inquiring about Katara's love life any further, for which his sister and the airbender were silently grateful of. As they waited for the monorail to return, another wagon stopped in front of them, one that was smaller and more ostentatious than the first. It was carried by four men clad in dark court robes with the Earth Kingdom emblem embroidered on the upper front. Their faces were slightly covered by the wide summer hats that they wore, giving them a mysterious and secretive aura that made Shujinko somewhat uncomfortable as if something about them poked at his shinobi instincts.

Two of those men hopped off the wagon and opened its doors from outside, and if the Ozuma wasn't feeling sufficiently wary before, he definitely was now.

A woman in her mid-twenties stepped out of the wagon. She had black hair and grey eyes, and wore a formal, cream yellow dress that complimented her slim figure, as well as a green scarf neatly tied around her neck. There was nothing wrong or outlandish about her looks in general. On the contrary, she seemed like an elegant and refined lady at first glance. However, one needed to see nothing other than the smile on her face to feel on edge. Her grin was broad enough to show all of her pearly white teeth while her stretched lips remained rigid, giving the impression that they were carved from stone.

The frown on the Chūnin's forehead grew heavier as the lady walked towards them and he had to make a conscious effort to not reach for his kunai when she stopped a few feet from where they were, performing a solemn bow worthy of a ceremony. "Salutations, young Avatar. It is a great honor to welcome you and your companions to our city," she began to say. The members of Team Avatar responded with the colloquial greeting gesture of the Earth Kingdom, which Shujinko imitated a second later. "My name is Joo Dee, your designated escort. May I have your names?"

Every word that came out of her mouth was said without blinking, and her tone of voice was similar to that of a lousy actress who was reciting the lines of a script out loud. In spite of her creepiness, the airbender remembered his manners and quickly made use of them as to not seem rude. "My name is Aang. This is Sokka, Toph, Shujinko, and Katara. Oh, and this is Momo. We're here because we need to speak with the Earth King right away. It has to do with something really important that he must be made aware of,"

"Wonderful. Please allow me to show you around," Joo Dee replied as she pointed at the wagon to her back, inviting them to come in. "There is much to learn about the capital of the Earth Kingdom and even more to see. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have along the way,"

Aaaaaaaaaand that was chapter 23. Hope you all liked it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present thee the last, long overdue chapter of "The Impenetrable City" mini-saga. When talking about the most complicated chapters I've ever had to make, this one is definitely up there with the greatest, with over 15.000 words to show for it.

The main reason it took me this long to get it over with is because I had originally planned to have Shujinko and Suki fight together against Mai and Ty Lee. However, I had to dismiss that idea almost as soon as I began to develop the fight scene. Shujinko was more than capable of defeating Mai and Ty Lee by himself, so adding Suki to the mix felt pointless and horseshoed. After that, I had to re-design the entire scene and make it last longer than two minutes since that would've been boring. I also did my best to write a bit from the perspectives of Mai and Ty Lee, which was definitely tricky since they are secondary characters from whom we don't get much introspection in the show, so I was forced to improvise and make do with the knowledge I had of them. In the end, I think I managed to bake a decent product.

In regards to Ty Lee and Mai, I gotta say I never got the impression that they were aware of what they were involved in, like they never realized they were actively participating in a war nor the sort of risks that come with it. I like both their characters well enough, but I don't recall them ever fearing for their lives or suffering any kind of pressure as they helped Azula, at least not until they had that falling out by the end of Book 3. Their fight against Shujinko was meant to open their eyes to the reality of what they had gotten themselves involved in, that war ain't pretty and that things can get really ugly.

In regards to the way the people of the Earth Kingdom view spirits and spiritualism in general, that's mostly my head canon, although the thing about the Earth Sages is genuinely canon. Also, were you expecting the hooded man to make an appearance in this chapter?

I gotta admit that I had a lot of fun writing Shujinko's reaction to the monorail of Ba Sing Se. Moments like these are the ones I might enjoy the most. Who knows? Maybe if he gets back to the Hidden Leaf, he'll establish the monorail / train system before Ereki Kaminarimon from Boruto does, leading him to become the richest shinobi of the village lol.

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Peace!