Man that took a while. First off I want to give a huge "thank you" to Koikii (Ame-chan) on deviantart for giving me permission to use this cover image for my story. You can view this person's art at .com. You can also go to #/art/CM-Naruto-and-Korra-426423973?hf=1 to view the cover image made by pumyte. Anyway, thank you all for the follows, favorites, and review. Sorry for those who wanted this sooner. This actually took longer than I would have liked. I guess the trick is to stay motivated. But anyway, without further delay, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

"Normal speak"

Normal thought

"Biju/Spirit talk"

Biju/Spirit thought

Disclaimer: Still applies

Chapter 2: Encounter

Land of Fire, near the Hidden Leaf Village

The now six-year-old Korra shifted uncomfortably in her seat as the wagon she was riding slowly made its way to the Hidden Leaf Village. She didn't mind traveling. In fact, she was excited that she had the opportunity to leave the compound in the South Pole where she had been training for two years. She could still remember when she surprised the members of the White Lotus who visited her home to find the new Avatar. Korra nearly giggled with glee as she recalled their shocked faces from her control over three of the elements.

Though Korra was happy about being the Avatar, she was not happy about being secluded in the South Pole. She was told that it was Avatar Aang's last wish for the Order of the White Lotus to keep her safe while she mastered the four elements. She may have had a lot of respect for her predecessor, but she still hated the idea of being locked up and hidden away from the world like a secret.

It still felt that way for her now as she and the White Lotus sentries were traveling merchants on their way to the Hidden Leaf. She was very curious about what the village is like, especially since it was Master Katara who convinced them to travel there. Her curiosity increased as she peeked out to see strange people with headbands escorting them.

She decided to speak her thoughts to her waterbending master sitting next to her.

"What exactly are we going to this 'Hidden Leaf' village for anyway?" Korra asked.

Katara smiled down at her, "We're going to visit an old friend of mine. He was also good friends with my husband. He is the village's leader," she explained.

Korra widened her eyes, "Avatar Aang knew him? Is he really strong then?" she asked.

Katara chuckled in response, "Yes he is, you'd be amazed at he's capable of, despite his growing age."

"That sounds exciting. I can't wait to meet him!" Korra enthusiastically replied, but later grimaced, "I still can't stand that we have to secretly travel and be guarded."

Katara frowned, "Their caution isn't without merit, Korra. You wouldn't believe how dangerous this continent is compared to the Four Bending Nations," she said sternly.

Korra was surprised at that, and nodded once. After all, she was very grateful to have Katara as her teacher. She is a very caring women and one of the few who gave Korra the sense that she truly believed in her capabilities and what she could be. Korra chose to respect her throughout the whole situation and only hoped that their trip to the village wouldn't take too long.

Hidden Leaf Village, with Naruto

Naruto was very bored at the moment.

He had already done enough pranking on several kids who picked on him and he had enough of playing by himself in the park. On top of that, his stomach was growling.

"I'm hungry," he whined, "Maybe I should go to the Old Man Hokage to get me some Ichiraku Ramen."

He smiled at that thought. The old Hokage and the Ichirakus have been some of the few people who at least nice to him. Naruto frowned as he thought of all the challenges he faced every day. Dealing with the loneliness of being an orphan was bad enough, but fact that the entire village hated him was very disheartening. What really bothered him was that he didn't understand why the villagers sent glares and dirty looks toward his way. The people would whisper things about him when they didn't think he'd hear such as: "demon brat", "monster", or "freak". Parents would keep other children away from him and would even encourage them to mistreat him.

Naruto fished his hand into his pocket to pull out a necklace. It consisted of black rope which was attached to a red circular jewel that had the design of a swirling whirlpool. It was his prized possession. The Old Man said that it once belonged to his mother. To this day the old Hokage hasn't told Naruto who his parents were. To Naruto, this necklace was the only evidence he had that proved he belonged to a family, that he was worth something. He kept it with him to reassure him whenever the villagers made him feel like dirt.

I'll prove'em wrong. He thought. I'll show them what I'm worth. I'll become Hokage to prove it to everyone!

Ending his thoughts, Naruto started to run off to the large building where the Hokage's office was located.

Within Naruto's mindscape

A large beast with red-orange fur and nine tails was slumbering within a cage locked with a seal. Suddenly, it stirred as it sensed a strange energy approaching the village. The beast hadn't felt this energy in while, not since the passing of one individual: Avatar Aang.

The beast grumbled in response, Great, it thought, irritated. It's her again.

Outside the village gates

Finally! Korra thought as the escorted group made their way inside the village with her holding Katara's hand.

The whole place was more different then she would have thought. It seemed somewhat primitive compared to what Katara described to her about Republic City. A lot of people were wearing sandals and a number of them were also wearing headbands with metal plates. If she looked closely, she could see the symbol being a stylized leaf. Korra was so taken by the surrounding sights that she almost didn't notice that they were about to enter a large red building. After getting past the secretary and climbing stairs, they finally made it outside the door to the Hokage's office. One of the leading White Lotus sentries knocked on the door.

"Enter," they heard an elderly voice respond.

As the door opened and they walked in, Korra took in her surroundings. The room was oval-shaped with desk with a window that overlooked the whole village. What caught Korra's attention was the old man sitting behind the desk.

The man was wearing a strange hat that looked like a circular cone with white flaps and red and white robes. Korra was pretty sure that this was the village. He seemed really old, but then again, her old waterbending master is considered to be the best in the bending world, so who was she to judge?

Katara stepped forward and bowed her head in respect, "It's great to see you again, Lord Third."

The old man smiled, "Likewise, Katara, but there's no need to be so formal. I still see you as an older sister."

Korra silently watched the exchange, wondering about this man's history with her master.

The Hokage shifted his gaze toward Korra.

"So, I'm assuming that this is the child?" he asked.

"Yes," Katara replied, putting her hands on Korra's shoulders, "I'd like you to meet Aang's successor: Avatar Korra."

Korra followed her master's example and bowed in respect as well, "It's a pleasure to meet you sir."

Lord Third smiled, "It's an honor to meet you as well. I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, also known as the Third Hokage."

Something clicked in Korra's head. The name Hiruzen seemed familiar to her. I guess it has to do with the fact that he was a friend to my past life.

The leading White Lotus sentry chose this time to step forward, "A pleasure to meet you as well Lord Hokage. As you know, we have visited on the hope of improving relations with Land of Fire as Avatar Aang strived for in the past, hence the reason we-"

"HEY WAIT! YOU CAN'T GO IN THERE!"

Suddenly the door opened and a blonde-haired kid came running in toward the Hokage.

"Hey Old Man!" the boy shouted excitedly as he jumped to hug said man.

At that instant, two chuunin came rushing inside the office.

"Our apologies, Lord Hokage," one of them said out of breath.

Hiruzen raised his hand to signal them to relax and turned to the boy.

"Naruto-kun, why are you here?" he asked, "You know how busy I can be and you shouldn't be barging in when I'm having a meeting."

Naruto pouted to this, "But I'm really hungry, and there's really nothing else to do. Can we go for some Ichiraku Ramen, please?"

Hiruzen sighed tiredly, "I'm afraid I can't do that at the moment. I'm sorry, but it's best you're not here right now."

"Aww," Naruto whined.

Katara stared over at the boy sadly. So this is Minato and Kushina's son. How tragic for him to grow up without loving parents.

Korra was staring curiously at the boy. The blonde hair was something she didn't see every day, but what got her curious were the marks on his cheeks that looked like whiskers.

Naruto, with his head bowed in disappointment, slowly made his way out the door. When he left, Hiruzen motioned to the White Lotus sentry to continue.

"Thank you, Lord Hokage. As I was saying, we are here for the young Avatar to familiarize herself with the culture here so she will learn to maintain good relations between here and the Bending Countries as she grows older."

"Of course," the Hokage nodded.

The sentry nodded in return, "Now Korra, I want you behave yourself here and stay with the White Lotus members guarding you. Understand?"

No response.

"Korra?" The man asked turning to Korra's direction.

Unfortunately, Korra was nowhere to be seen.

"…"

A few seconds passed.

"WHERE DID SHE GO!?" The man frantically screamed.

Katara her hand to her chin as if in thought, "She must have followed that boy, but I'm not sure where," she replied calmly.

The leading sentry quickly rounded on the others, "Search the village immediately! We need to find her before she gets into trouble!"

Immediately, they all left except Katara as Hiruzen pinched the bridge of his nose. Well, I guess I'm dealing with another pain from now on. He thought with irritation.

"That boy looks a lot like the Fourth Hokage, but he seems to take after his mother," Katara mused.

"Seems that there's no need to tell you about it," Hiruzen replied.

Katara smiled sadly, "It's nearly impossible to not see the resemblance. It's truly a shame for the child of such a loving couple to be left all alone."

"It truly is," Hiruzen sighed and looked toward a picture frame of the Fourth Hokage, "Even now I wish I could have done a lot more for the boy."

With Naruto

Naruto was walking through the village streets in a depressed manner.

"This stinks," he thought out loud. I guess I can get some food, but it's no fun being all by myself. He thought grimly.

"HEY YOU!" he heard a shout.

Naruto turned to see several boys covered in paint; each one with an angry look on his face.

"You're the runt who got paint on us aren't you!?" one of them yelled.

Naruto made a face, stuck out his tongue at them and took off running.

"Get him!" the same boy yelled.

Naruto ran as fast as he could, navigating through all the people that were in the street. Just as he was near the academy building, he accidentally tripped. He tried to get up, but he was then one of his chasers stepped on his back to keep him pinned to the ground.

"What now? You're not getting away this time," The kid mocked as his friends caught up.

As soon as they did, they started to kick Naruto repeatedly ignoring his cries of pain. When they had enough, they started to walk away.

"That'll teach ya," the leader said as the others laughed, but then noticed something on the ground.

"Well, what's this?" he wondered.

Naruto's eyes widened with fear. It was his mother's necklace!

"Give it back!" he cried as he stood up to run at the boy holding it, but one of the others knocked him down.

"What's that?" the leader mocked, "I don't I hear you well pipsqueak."

"I said to give it back!" Naruto cried as he tried to stand up, "It belonged to my mom!"

"Who's gonna make us? Your mom?" another kid mocked, "Oh that's right. You don't have one do you?"

Naruto winced as he heard this.

"Yeah, that's right," another said, "You're just the troublemaker that nobody cares about. The kid everyone hates. What would you know about a parent?"

Naruto wanted to cry so much, but getting back at these jerks and getting his necklace back was something he had to focus on. What the leader of the bullies was about to do was about to make him lose it.

The boy threw the necklace to the ground, "Well, if you're that worthless, then I don't see the need for you to have this."

Naruto's heart stopped as the leader lifted his foot to stomp on the necklace.

"HEY, YOU JERKS! LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

All of the boys turned around to see a dark-haired girl around the same age as Naruto.

She had a high ponytail and two others framing her face. She also had blue eyes and tan skin and was wearing tight blue shirt that exposed her belly and dark blue pants. Naruto recognized her from the Old Man's office.

The bullies looked to each other and then laughed.

"HA! That's rich. A little girl's gonna stop us" a big one mocked, "What do you want us to do?"

The girl smirked, "Simple. You let the kid go, give him back his necklace, and I promise to keep the beating to a minimum."

The same large kid chuckled and made his way over to the girl, "Yeah, that's nice and all, but how about just run off and do girl stuff like makeup and play with dolls-"

And that's when the girl socked him right in the face.

As the big guy went down unconscious, the others could only gape at the sight. Naruto was amazed. Whoa. Just who is this girl?

Said brunette continued to smirk as she cracked her knuckles, "So, who's next?"

One of the boys got over his shock and charged at her.

"That was a lucky punch!" he yelled.

Sadly the fool learned the hard way as the girl grabbed the boy's fist aimed at her and threw him hard against a tree.

Two others then decided to double-team against her, but then she something that no one else saw coming. The tan-skinned girl simply stomped her foot on the ground and two earth columns sent her two opponents flying above her head.

The boys roughly landed somewhere behind her, leaving only the leading bully left to face her.

"Your move," the girl stated.

Shaking, the leader dropped Naruto's necklace and took off running.

Naruto just sat on the ground looking at the girl with awe. I can't believe she took'em all out like that. And what was that weird jutsu she used just now? He thought.

Said girl picked up Naruto's necklace and walked to him.

"'You alright? I think this belongs to you," she said smiling.

Naruto got up and took back his necklace, "Uh,… thanks," he said still in awe.

The girl spoke again, only with more concern, "We should get you to a hospital though. Those jerks must have beaten you up real good."

Naruto finally broke out of his stupor. Sure enough, there were bruises all over his body, but he smiled, "There's no need. I'll be all better soon. You'll see."

The girl only gained a confused look on her face.

"Besides," Naruto continued, "They've got nothing on the guy that's gonna become Hokage one day! Believe it!"

"Really?" the girl said taken back, "I've been told that old guy is really strong. I'd say you have your work cut out for you."

"We'll see about that!" Naruto retorted, "I'll show everyone by surpassing all the Hokage before me. And one day, I'll figure out how you did that weird jutsu thingy and become the strongest ever!"

"Hey wait a minute!" the girl yelled in protest, "Even if you were able to earthbend, you'd be no match for me since I can bend all four elements as the Avatar!"

"I don't care what that is!" Naruto yelled back smiling, "'Cause I'd bet anything that the Hokage is the stronger one!"

"No way! I'd be the strongest and you gotta deal with it!"

"Forget it! It's me who'll be stronger! Believe it!"

The two glared at each other for a minute… before they both ended up laughing.

The girl managed to stop first.

"I gotta say you've got a lot of guts to talk so big after getting beaten up so badly. I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Korra", she said.

"Korra, huh? Well my name is Naruto Uzumaki! The greatest shinobi you'll ever meet!"

Unbeknownst to the both of them, the Third Hokage was watching the encounter from his crystal ball with a smile on his face.

"Well, this is an interesting development," he mused.

Oh my gosh. I can't believe how long this turned out to be. Hope you guys enjoyed and please review! Thanks!