Two Revolutionaries

by Imagine476

The world is struck with tragedy at the death of Avatar Aang and the Fourth Hokage, but two children are born to guide the world to a new future. DISCONTINUED

13. Dreams and Determination

Hey guys! I'm back! Been awhile hasn't it? (dodges a chair) Okay, okay, I won't beat around the bush. I've been gone too long. I believe for about... (checks the calendar) FIVE MONTHS!? Wow, sorry about that guys. Unfortunately, trying to do this and deal with school at the same time was just too much. Though it was also partly due to writer's block. And also that chapter ended up so long that was OVER 9000! (and much more than that, but you get the gist ;)) I honestly didn't expect to write a chapter this long and I probably won't for a while. And who would've thought I'd actually get it done on Christmas Day!

So, on to two unrelated news... SAMURAI JACK IS COMING BACK IN 2016! OH YEAH! Seriously, I can't wait. Also, CHECK OUT ONE PUNCH MAN IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!

So, with that done, let's get on with the story.

Disclaimer: Still applies

---

Chapter 13: Dreams and Determination

Korra was currently breathing heavily while resting her hands on her knees. Jiraiya was standing in front of her looking none worse for wear. "Come on, kid. I'm sure you've get more left in you," he taunted as he folded his arms in front him.

Korra was getting irritated, "Of course not! I can still fight," she retorted. In reality, she was getting exhausted. This was a lot more tiresome than learning from her bending teachers.

After the incident with the Akatsuki, Jiraiya took to start teaching Naruto the Rasengan, an A-rank jutsu invented by the Fourth Hokage himself. He got him started on the steps to form the jutsu and left him to figure out the rest. As this was going on, Katara urged Jiraiya to train Korra in hand-to-hand combat. At first, Korra didn't have a problem with this idea. She had already sparred with Naruto on several occasions, especially with hand-to-hand. That changed, however, when Jiraiya introduced weights for her to wear on her arms and legs. That took a lot of getting used to.

On top of that, she's been learning to refine her bending abilities. For instance, she's been attempting to increase the hardness of her ice with waterbending to withstand more attacks. It required a lot of concentration, but she figured it would pay off.

Right now, she was sparring with the Toad hermit's shadow clone in taijutsu wearing the weights to test her endurance and increase her stamina while the original went to find out where Tsunade was. She was able to pull off a few moves for a bit, but over time it became much harder for her to move much less fight, due to her exhaustion.

This was becoming obvious to Jiraiya's shadow clone if his sigh was anything to go by.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to cut off the sparring here for now. Take the time to rest an-" he began before he was cut off.

"No! Not yet!" Korra shouted, as she continued to take deep breaths, "Let's keep going; just a bit longer."

At this point, her entire body was aching and begging her to stop and rest, but she couldn't take that option. She had to get stronger. Before coming to the Shinobi Nations, Korra thought she could take on anyone with her bending, only to have her thrown against enemies that were more dangerous than she ever thought possible in the form of Gaara and, most recently, Itachi and Kisame. The latter ones had her concerned the most. Whoever these Akatsuki were, she wasn't going let them take Naruto for who-knows-what, especially since she was going to help him fulfill his dream.

The clone sighed again, "Alright, but don't blame me if your muscles are sore afterwards. Let's finish this," he said as he got into a stance again.

Korra struggled for a bit, but managed to do the same. She forced herself to focus as the words of the rogue Uchiha echoed in her mind. "Naruto is the prize that the Akatsuki is after…and we will have him."

Korra gritted her teeth as she steeled her resolve. Over my dead body. She thought as she ran to meet Jiraiya again.

---

Elsewhere, Naruto was lying face-down on the ground with leaked rubber balls littered around him after a tiresome attempt at mastering another one of Rasengan's steps. He was able to get through the first step which was popping a water balloon using chakra rotation. Now, he was trying to pop a rubber ball which required more power on his part. Naruto has been trying this, but it lead to a lot of pain. Eventually, he was able to pop it, but was only able to make a hole in the ball instead of completely bursting it. To give Naruto a clue, Jiraiya drew a mark on the center of his palm to focus on it.

At this point, Naruto wasn't any closer to figuring it out and was only getting exhausted with each failed attempt.

The blonde genin looked at his marked hand with frustration.

"Gah! I don't get it! Why is this so difficult?" he questioned to himself, "There's gotta be a trick to this."

As Naruto kept pondering on what to do, he just started to notice the red swirl of his necklace lying in front of him. He sighed looking at the thing. With all of the craziness that he had been through in the past several months, he hadn't thought much about his mother's necklace. Sure, his teammates asked about it, but that was about it. There were rare moments like this when he would wonder what his parents would tell him; what advice they could offer.

What would they say the focus thing is about? He thought as he studied the red spiral very closely. Pervy Sage said that it's all about honing the mind. Kinda like how Iruka-sensei would talk about… Wait!

He halted his thoughts as he was getting up. There was something he talked about! What was it? He searched through his thoughts. It didn't take long for him to recall an exercise that consisted of focusing on a leaf on his forehead to summon up chakra. He didn't quite get it at first, but he figured he should pay attention.

This is the exact same thing! The blonde realized.

He took out another rubber ball and concentrated one more time. Once he found the focus he needed, he used his other hand apply chakra to the ball. After going through the excruciating pain, he finally saw it pay off as the ball exploded. While he would celebrate this, burst was strong enough to knock him backwards and send him skidding across the ground.

Ow. Well, at least that worked. He thought as he stopped before he heard someone running to him.

"Naruto! What happened? Are you alright?" asked the concerned voice of Katara.

Naruto chuckled as he moved his head to talk to the elderly woman, "Hey, Water-Granny. I did it. I mastered the second step."

Katara smiled seeing his slightly burnt palm, "I see that you have. Can you still stand?"

Naruto groaned as he got up, "Yeah. I think so."

"Good. I just got lunch ready. Korra should already be there, so let's not make her wait," Katara said as she helped guide a fatigued Naruto over to where she had food prepared.

Naruto's stomach growled as the he hadn't eaten in a while. The whole focus training seemed to push that thought to the back of his mind. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good," Naruto replied as he desperately wanted to refill his stomach.

---

As Katara and the kids were by the fire, there were several delicacies that she had prepared. Her cuisine consisted of sea crabs, sea prunes, fish, and seaweed soup. She was probably limited on options on what to cook since they weren't in the Water Tribes, but it seemed close enough to a Water Tribe dish. She also made a good judgment to make a lot since Naruto and Korra were digging in very thoroughly.

"Mmm! This is really great, Water-Granny!" Naruto cheered as he ate.

"Yeah, thanks Master Katara!" Korra thanked before going right back to eating.

Katara smiled in appreciation, "I'm glad you both enjoy it. It's a good thing I made a lot considering the training you two have gone through."

Korra swallowed a bunch of her soup before she groaned, "Ugh. Tell me about it. I never imagined anyone trains wearing weights on their body. I still feel sore from all that."

Naruto chuckled at that, "You think that's crazy? Bushy-Brow would train with leg weights all the time. In fact, when I saw him take them off in the Chuunin Exams, they were so heavy that they caused the whole arena to shake when they hit the ground!"

"Whoa," Korra marveled, "Guess I shouldn't complain. Jiraiya said that I've done well enough, but I should work combining the hand-to-hand stuff and bending on my own."

"Awesome! Well I've finally been able to master the second step for Rasengan!" Naruto happily cheered.

The brunette smiled back. She was really happy for him to make it this far. She wouldn't wait to see how the results of all his hard work.

"Great! With the rate you're going in, you'll get that technique down in no time!" she responded with excitement as she gave Naruto a slap on the back.

"OW! Pain!" Naruto screeched as he felt a stinging sensation wash over his whole body, "Everything's in pain!"

"Oh, sorry! Sorry!" Korra quickly apologized. Man, I gotta be careful with my strength now. She thought.

"Well, it looks like everyone here's having fun," said the voice of Jiraiya as he was walking up to the group from the forest.

"Pervy Sage!" Naruto yelled in gladness, somehow forgetting about the pain he was in earlier.

"Well, it seems you finally decided to join us, Jiraiya," Katara also commented giving the smile that hid the malicious aura she was directing at the Toad Sage.

Jiraiya quickly raised his arms in defense, "Hey, don't worry. I was doing something productive!" he replied immediately.

Korra rolled her eyes to that before Naruto started speaking again, "It's about time you made it back, old man! I just finished the second step!" he boasted.

"And so you have," Jiraiya stated in an amused tone as he walked over to the blonde and ruffled his hair, "I guess even a slow learner like you can be full of surprises."

Naruto gave an annoyed look for moment before breaking out into another smile, as he was too happy about his recent success to stay irritated at that remark, "Well I can't stop there, Pervy Sage! What's the final step?"

"That can wait, kid," the Toad hermit answered before taking on a more serious tone, "We need to get moving soon. I got a tip on where Tsunade might be."

Everyone widened their eyes in surprise.

"Seriously? Where?" Korra asked for everyone else present.

"I learned that she went off to the little place called Tanzaku Town," Jiraiya replied, "And knowing her reputation, she probably won't be staying too long, so once you guys are finished, let's hurry up and head out."

The others agreed and as soon as they finished with their food, they got their stuff together and headed for Tanzaku Town.

---

Along the way, Jiraiya proceeded to tell Naruto of the third and final step to mastering the Rasengan: combining what he had learned in the previous two steps and keep the water balloon that he would use from popping. Naruto immediately saw the difficulty of this step when he started, but Jiraiya wouldn't be able to help him with it.

Korra, in the meantime, worked on her own techniques when she had the time. She wouldn't get a whole lot of time to practice since they kept on moving, but she did what she could.

After walking for several miles, the group finally arrived at Tanzaku Town. However, as they explored a bit of the palace area, a huge rumble occurred.

"Huh? What was that?" Naruto asked, bewildered, trying look where it came from.

Damn! Was that Tsunade? Jiraiya thought. What could've caused her to start a fight?

He shared a look with Katara, who seemed to understand his thoughts. "Go," she said, "Korra and I will catch up you."

"Alright," Jiraiya replied with a nod as he headed off in the direction of the sound while yelling to his apprentice, "Naruto! Let's go quickly!"

"Oh! Uh… right, ok," Naruto replied as he ran after Jiraiya, though he was a bit confused as to what was going on.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Korra called out, but Naruto and Jiraiya had already sped off, "What's up with that? Shouldn't we all be going together?" she asked her teacher.

"We would only slow them down," Katara replied, "Besides, we'll still be able to see Tsunade once we meet up with them." And if she's in a fight, those two would have to back her up quickly. She added in thought.

The two went at their own pace before Korra chose to speak up again, "So, was that really her? You said that she has legendary strength, but I didn't think it would be this earth shattering."

Katara chuckled, "Without a doubt. She's developed her strength as something to be feared. In fact, I'm pretty sure that even the most experienced earthbenders would problems facing her."

"Whoa," Korra could only marvel, "I almost feel sorry for whoever's fighting her. And you know he'll be done for when Naruto and the Pervy Sage come in for the assist."

"My goodness, Korra," Katara replied, pretending to be taken aback, "I would've thought you'd be respectful of Jiraiya."

"Meh," Korra shrugged as she placed her hands behind her head, "My respect for him only goes so far, especially after what he pulled a few weeks ago."

The old waterbending chuckled as they kept walking. Before long, though, Jiraiya and Naruto appeared before them once again.

"What happened? Did you find her?" Korra quickly asked.

Katara took note of the Toad hermit's frustrated expression, "She was already gone as soon as you got there, wasn't she?"

Jiraiya sighed in response, "Yeah," he replied, "and we have no clue as to where she might've gone."

Naruto messed his hands through his hair in frustrastion, "Argh! Just how long do we have to keep tracking her down! This is getting ridiculous!"

He was getting really tired of this. If Tsunade was the medic Jiraiya told Naruto that she was then she should be able to heal Sasuke and everyone else in the Hidden Leaf. The more time they kept missing her was the more time that was wasted. Korra she seemed to share this sentiment.

"Just what is she on the run from anyway!?" she ranted, exasperated, "At this point, we'll just be hitting dead-ends if we keep searching!"

Though that does beg the question: What caused her to have to fight? Katara thought with narrowed eyes. Things might take a turn for the worst even if we do find her.

Nevertheless, the group continued on their way to find the Slug Sannin and bring her back to the Leaf Village… even though it was likely to become a far more difficult challenge.

---

"Tsunade-sama, you aren't seriously considering his offer, are you?" a black-haired woman was saying to the blonde-haired woman sitting across from her, "You know he can't be trusted!"

The blonde woman addressed as Tsunade groaned as she heard the plea from her apprentice once again regarding the encounter they had with her former teammate they had earlier that day.

The two had traveled to Tanzaku Town to win big money to settle the gambling debts that were piling up. When they started to make some winnings at one of the slot machines, however, Tsunade took that as omen considering her reputation at never winning bets. When she and her apprentice tried to leave, they ran into Orochimaru and his assistant, Kabuto, with the request to heal his arms that were afflicted by the Third Hokage.

Tsunade, aware of Orochimaru's rogue status and finding out about Hiruzen's murder at his hands in the conversation, had no intention of helping him. In fact, she was about to kill the two men before Orochimaru made a claim that appeal to even her: he would bring Tsunade's dead brother and her lover back from the dead. This, of course, caused the female Sannin to hesitate, so Orochimaru decided to give his former teammate one week to decide.

So until this evening, Tsunade had spent most of her time in her thoughts, with her traveling companion trying to convince her otherwise, as was the case now at the bar they were currently at.

She glared at the other woman who kept trying to sway her in her decision, "Shizune. This is my decision, so quit butting into it!"

Shizune winced at her mentor's tone, but she wouldn't relent, "But you know this isn't right! Helping him would betray the Leaf Village. You know brother and my uncle wouldn't have wanted tha-"

She was immediately silenced by her mentor sending her a fiercer glare. Once Tsunade was finished shutting up her assistant, she retreated back into her thoughts. She knew that Shizune was right in that she must've help Orochimaru. Doing so would not only seal the fate of the Hidden Leaf Village, but would also betray everything that her sensei and the previous Hokage stood for.

But… even so… just the thought of seeing her loved ones again. The precious people to her whose lives were cruelly cut short. To just see a glimpse of them once more… it was a very tempting thought. However, fate wouldn't give her time to process her thoughts accordingly as the former Leaf ninja locked eyes with someone she didn't expect to see again so shortly after Orochimaru.

"Hey! Look who it is!" Jiraiya called out in excitement.

Tsunade could only blink in surprise before she groaned. Just great. She internally complained as she gulped more sake from her ochoko.

Karma must've really hated her today.

---

Several hours after the dead-end search at the Tanzaku Castle, the group in pursuit of Tsunade made a stop at nearby bar for dinner. The kids seem to disapprove of the idea as did Katara, but the Toad Sage made the point that they were in a gambling town and that they could still get something acceptable for Naruto and Korra to eat. As they made they made their way inside, Jiraiya met the eyes of the very woman they were looking for.

"Hey! Look who it is!" he called out happily.

Katara also looked in surprise and then relief at seeing Hiruzen's female student alive and well. She also noted the surprise on Tsunade's face from seeing the old waterbending master.

Naruto and Korra walked in after the two elders and were astonished by the appearance of the woman that they were searching for. Initially, they expected to see a woman clearly the same age as Jiraiya with signs of wrinkles and perhaps a mole. What they didn't expect was someone with flawess skin, a face that belonged to someone in her twenties, and… incredibly large breasts. It took a few seconds for the kids to remember what Jiraiya mentioned about Tsunade using a constant Transformation jutsu to keep herself looking young.

After seeing enough of Tsunade's appearance, the Leaf genin and Avatar looked over to the woman who seemed to be accompanying her. She had black hair and looked considerably younger than Tsunande and wore a bluish-black kimono with white trimmings. It took a moment for them to notice a clothed creature that the woman was holding which was… a pig?

And Katara told me Ba Sing Se was weird. Korra thought with a sweatdrop.

Jiraiya and Katara started chatting with Tsunade and her apprentice, Shizune. Tsunade asked the other two elders about the children and when she was told their names she quickly put together that Naruto was the Kyubi jinchuriki and Korra was the new Avatar incarnation after Aang.

Everyone situated themselves in the booth where Tsunade and Shizune were sitting with Jiraiya and Katara continuing to talk with them while Korra and Naruto focused on the food they were served. That was when the conversation took a turn for the interesting.

"Mind telling why you've really come?" Tsunade demanded sounding annoyed.

Jiraiya and Katara looked to each other before addressing the other woman in a bit more serious manner. "I'll cut to the chase," Jiraiya started as the kids continued to eat, "The Hidden Leaf came under a devastating attack. It's recovering from the battle as we speak, but Sensei's life was lost in the struggle."

Tsunade widened her eyes in surprise. Could that bastard snake's claim be true then? She kept the thought to herself as Jiraiya continued speaking.

"It's been decided by the village elders that you be named the Fifth Hokage," he finished. Just as he did so, Naruto immediately choked on the food he was eating while Korra spit out the water she was drinking straight at the pig that was with the traveling women.

"WHAT!?" Naruto yelled, shocked, "Wait, that's why we've been looking for her!?"

Korra was also surprised hearing this piece of news. She looked over at her waterbending master who didn't look surprised in the slightest, as if she was also aware of this reason this whole time. As the brunette thought more about it, it kind of made sense if Tsunade is one of the legendary Sannin that she would be a candidate for Hokage, but couldn't the same be said for Jiraiya? But the better question was why didn't she know about this?

She looked over at Naruto who was still lost for words. Then again, Korra thought, this might've not gone over well if he knew earlier.

Back to the conversation, Tsunade was silent for a few minutes before she decided to speak again, "How could that have happened? Who could have caused that much devastation?" she already knew the answer, but tried her best to sound surprised.

If it were possible, Jiraiya's tone became grimmer, "It was none other than Orochimaru."

To Tsunade, this confirmed what was told to her by said culprit. To the Avatar and blonde jinchuriki, however, this shocked them to the core. All they knew was that the Third Hokage died in battle, but not exactly who it was that killed him. To Korra it was like a punch to the gut. Katara told her that Orochimaru was once among Hiruzen's students and one of the Sannin. All she could think was about the turmoil Lord Third fighting his former who wanted him to die and crush everything that he held dear. She tightened her fists at the thought that someone who was close to benevolent man like Hiruzen would turn on him like that.

Naruto's reaction to the news wasn't any better.

That's the guy who killed the Old Man? He thought angrily. Who the hell is that guy?

Before he could make his questions verbally known, the blonde felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Katara shaking her head. He then chose to relent from giving an outburst, but still didn't like the situation.

This time it was Katara's turn to speak, "Orochimaru's attack devastated the village, but Hiruzen managed to stop him at the cost of his life. Orochimaru must be alive, however, and we don't know when he'll strike the village again," she wore an expression of concern before continuing to speak while making eye contact with Tsunade, "That's why you were chosen as a candidate for the next Hokage. Not only are you another member of the Sannin like Jiraiya and Orochimaru, but your medical prowess is unrivaled by anyone and led to the Leaf's victory in the Second Great Ninja War. Not to mention you're the granddaughter of the First Hokage. There's no one better for the position."

"So, Tsunade… what's your answer?" Jiraiya gestured for Tsunade to give her response. The others at the table were curious as to how she would respond.

For few minutes, the Slug Sannin said nothing. She looked down seemingly in thought, though it showed more bitterness than anything. It was as if being chosen for the title of Hokage was no cause for excitement.

After a while, she closed her eyes and replied, "What a ludicrous request. I decline."

This shocked everyone at the table, even Jiraiya and Katara.

Seriously? First she gets chosen as the Fifth Hokage, and now she declines? Why? Naruto thought.

Shizune became uneasy after hearing her mentor's refusal of the Hokage title. It can't be. Could she be doing this because of the Orochimaru made to her? She thought with concern.

Jiraiya and Katara were still a bit shocked by Tsunade's response until the Toad Sage chose the time to speak again, "Really now? The only time I ever heard you say 'I decline' was whenever I asked you out."

The old waterbending master whacked Jiraiya upside the head and gave him a look that said "Not the time". Jiraiya only shrugged along with an apologetic smile before Katara tried to persuade Tsunade, "Why decline, Tsunade? You know that the village needs you. Isn't it dear to you enough to protect?"

Tsunade let out a humorless snort, "Why bother? I'd only become just another sacrifice for the village."

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked not liking where his former teammate was going with this.

"I've come to know one thing," Tsunade replied in a bitter tone, "Life isn't the same as money. It can't be gambled on so easily. A Hokage's life can be taken so easily and only a worthless fool would want to take on such a title."

The two kids at the table clenched their fists in response to that statement.

"My grandfather and granduncle were Hokage, but their lives were cut short in their prime while they living out their dreams. The Fourth Hokage, your student, Jiraiya, displayed exceptional skill and clearly Kage material, but even he ended up sacrificing his life for the village just a short time after achieving the title."

Jiraiya kept his features schooled, though on the inside he couldn't repress the sense of regret and sadness over the loss of his prized student. Naruto, in the meantime, bristled over Tsunade's words as he didn't take kindly to someone mocking his idol.

Katara softened her eyes as she could tell what caused her to speak with such bitterness. Their deaths have really damaged you that much.

"And as for Sarutobi-sensei," the female Sannin continued, "He eventually became too old and idealistic as Hokage. It was only a matter of time."

Now Korra was getting mad. How dare she!

"Their lives only became meaningless after they died. It only proves one thing: become Hokage… is nothing but a sucker's bet!"

Before anyone realized, Jiraiya had to grab the collars of two people lunging at Tsunade. It didn't take to see it was Naruto and Korra, both of whom were about to attempt beating the blonde woman senseless.

"That does it!" the blonde jinchuriki yelled, "I'm not sitting while you badmouth the Old Man and the Fourth Hokage like that! Hell, I don't even get why someone like you is picked to be Hokage!"

Tsunade sent an intense glare at the loudmouthed blonde, "How about you keep your mouth shut, brat?"

"He's right, you old hag!" Korra yelled to get the woman's attention, "The Third Hokage fought with everything he had to protect everyone! He sacrificed himself because the Leaf Village was precious to him! You have no right to belittle his sacrifice like that! I don't care if you are a Sannin!"

Tsunade gained a tick mark at the 'old hag' remark. So sharp-tongued. How the hell is a hot-head like her reincarnated from Aang?

"Both of you sit back down," Jiraiya demanded of the two youngsters, though his words were unheeded.

"Oh? You really think I'm going to take any crap from a couple of runts?" Tsunade sneered at the two kids who glared harder because of that insult.

"Don't underestimate me! I'm the one who's gonna be Hokage one day, and I won't stand for you trash talking that title!" Naruto yelled as he pointed his finger at Tsunade.

"Yeah! We can take you on!" Korra yelled in support.

"Oh really?" Tsunade challenged as she got up from her chair and placed her foot on the table while leveling the two preteens with a glare and a smirk, "If you two are so sure of yourselves why don't we take this outside… right now?"

Naruto and Korra took one look at each other before they nodded and turned back to the blonde woman. "You're on," the Leaf genin answered.

Shizune and Jiraiya stiffened as this was happening knowing what the Slug Sannin was capable of. Katara could only sigh. This was not going to end well.

---

(Outside the bar)

Soon enough, everyone at that table stood outside restaurant with Tsunade standing across from Naruto and Korra while Shizune, Jiraiya, and Katara stood on the sidelines in trepidation… more so from Shizune.

The blonde genin and brunette Water Tribe native stood ready, eager to show the Hokage candidate what they were made of. For Naruto especially, he was looking forward to wiping that smug smirk off of the female Sannin's face for mocking his dream. Korra wasn't in any better of an attitude. However, if she took the time to think about the whole situation she would understand that this action was a little misguided… Okay so it was totally reckless, but at this point Korra was too angry to care. This woman not only insulted the dream that her best friend was working towards, but disrespected the Third Hokage whom Korra gained a lot of respect for. Sannin or not, this woman was going down.

Tsunade stood across from the preteens with a hand on her hip and maintained the sour look on her face. Her cheeks were flushed pink due to the amount of sake she's had, but her eyes just as focused as ever. "Why don't you brats everything you've got at me?" she taunted, "Maybe it'll be good enough for to have to use both hands."

That statement irritated them, but they kept calm for a bit. The two shared a look and the next second, Naruto went charging straight at Tsunade.

The Slug Sannin snorted. Charging at an opponent head-on? Tch. He's a lot worse than I thought.

Just as she was about to intercept him, the blonde genin was suddenly shot into the air by a column of earth.

"What?" Tsunade gasped out.

Unfortunately for her, she had to shift her focus back to the earth spire that quickly traveled toward her, courtesy of Korra. Tsunade then punched the structure which completely destroyed it and looked around for where the younger blonde was. When she located him, she saw that Naruto was still in midair with a shadow clone next to him. The original threw a bunch of shuriken in Tsunade's direction while the shadow clone used Great Breakthrough to force the shuriken to travel at incredible speed.

Seeing this coming, Tsunade quickly somersaulted out of the way. Though she hated to admit it, she was a little impressed at the display. Okay, those two are more coordinated than I thought, I'll give them that much. She internally grimaced. However, the fight had only begun. The two preteens had no idea who they were up against.

Seeing Tsunade dodge those shuriken, Korra sent a barrage of fire balls in fast pace from her fists and kicks. Sadly, the blonde Sannin dodged each and every one those blasts and was making her way toward the girl. Seeing no other options, Korra switched to taijutsu and tried her best to land an effective hit on the older woman as she sent punches and kicks at her. Tsunade was able to block and dodge the other's strikes while observing the girl's movements. Hm. So that idiotic pervert taught this girl a bit of taijutsu. She thought, mildly impressed. Can't say he didn't do a good job, but she's still way out of my league.

Tsunade proved this thought as she used her hand to deflect an oncoming punch from Korra. Then, before Korra realized she was vulnerable, Tsunade kneed her right in the abdomen. The force of that strike caused air to quickly escape Korra's lungs and sent her skidding back away several feet from the Sannin. As she came to a halt, Korra was left on the ground, hugging herself in pain where she was hit. Katara eyed Korra's current with concern and was troubled seeing Tsunade's slightly more brutal approach.

"Korra!" Naruto yelled. He had been watching the blonde woman and Korra go at it to see if he could find an opening for him to strike. Seeing Korra get dealt with by the Slug Sannin forced him to abandon that strategy.

"Oh that does it! I'm taking you down you old hag!" he yelled as he charged at her.

Right as he was getting close, Tsunade turned to his direction and positioned her hand with her index finger held by her thumb in front of Naruto. Then with a smirk she flicked her finger right at Naruto's forehead. The result was immediate as he was sent tumbling backwards while his Leaf headband was knocked off simultaneously.

Jiraiya winced at seeing his apprentice and the Avatar get beaten down by his teammate. It reminded him too much about when he was at the receiving end of her punches.

"Is that all you kids got?" Tsunade taunted, looking between her two opponents, "I was hoping for more of a warm-up before you two pass out."

Said kids growled at the older lady as Korra was managing to right herself and started to stand up despite the pain she was in, and Naruto also got himself up.

"One thing I want to ask you brats though," Tsunade stated, which confused the two young fighters for a moment, but they decided to listen, "Why are you both so touchy about Hokage?"

Naruto smirked despite his current predicament, "Heh, it's 'cause unlike you, that's what aim to be! I will be Hokage one day!"

Tsunade gasped and looked at the boy. That's… that's just like…

"To be Hokage... that is my dream!" the young blonde declared with determination in his eyes.

It was those eyes that Tsunade couldn't help but recognize that resolve. Nawaki? Dan? She thought as her own eyes were widening.

"And that's a dream I'm gonna help him reach" Korra said from her position before Tsunade turned her head in her direction.

"And you have disrespect the Hokage like the Third," the brunette Avatar continued as she got up, "Sure he wasn't perfect, but he was the type of person who would do anything to save his home and the people he loves. I know Naruto is willing to do the same, and I'll whatever it takes to support him toward his dream."

Tsunade looked at shocked the girl's statement. But she's the Avatar and to deal with the responsibilities that come with it. Is she really willing to help a genin to such a goal? Does she really think he could stand a chance?

As the blonde Sannin was deep in her thoughts, an idea came to Naruto.

Ah. She's distracted. He realized and focused his chakra from his hand to the palm of his other hand. There's no other way now. I gotta hit her with this jutsu! I hope this works.

Once he got his Rasengan to the desired round shape, Naruto charged straight at Tsunade. The Slug Sannin turned to the blonde genin when she heard him coming and was shocked at what she was seeing. Impossible! The Rasengan!? She thought frantically.

From where she was standing, Korra smiled at when seeing Naruto's spherical shaped jutsu. He finally got it to work!

Not wanting to risk the genin's attack to be a bluff, Tsunade struck the ground in front of her with her finger which caused a huge crevice to form in Naruto's direction. He immediately lost his footing as he ran and ended up falling hand-first. The jutsu in his hand blew up when it touched the ground, sending flying backwards right inside the crevice.

"Naruto!" Korra yelled in worry as she saw that her friend was stuck. As she ran to get him out, Tsunade stood upright from her last strike and contemplated what she saw.

Who would've thought a mere genin would learn the Fourth Hokage's jutsu? Tsunade thought in amazement while she was watching Korra earthbend Naruto out of the crevice. When she looked down at the result of Naruto's attack, she let a smug smirk show. Though the point remains, he still hasn't perfected it, and I highly doubt he will.

"You okay?" Korra asked Naruto with concern after getting him out.

"Ugh. Yeah, I'm alright," he answered, shaking his head a bit as Shizune ran up to the two to check on them.

"Don't try to move around so much," she commanded the two, "I'll check to make sure you two weren't hurt too badly."

Both Naruto and Korra grimaced, but they relented nonetheless. Apparently their loss against the blonde woman became very fresh in their minds.

"Jiraiya!" Tsunade called out to the Toad Sage, "Did you seriously teach the kid the Rasengan?"

Jiraiya had his arms crossed and merely shrugged, "Why not? I'm his teacher, aren't I? What of it?"

"Idiot," Tsunade spat back, "Why the hell would you teach a jutsu like that to someone who can never master it?"

Naruto gritted his teeth and clenched his fists from hearing that. He had enough of people putting him down and he was going to prove this woman otherwise.

"To think I assumed you would know better than to fill the kid's head with foolish dreams," Tsunade continued, "You really think you're fit to call yourself a teacher?"

"It's not true!" Naruto yelled in defiance, "Just watch, old lady. I'll have this jutsu down in no time at all! Believe it!"

Tsunade was a bit taken back the younger blonde's resolve, but then she smirked, "Alright then, if you're so sure of yourself, care to make a wager?"

"Hmm? What kind of bet?" Naruto asked with narrowed eyes. Korra was also interested to hear what the older woman proposed.

"I'll give you one week to master that jutsu. If you manage to master it before the end, I'll admit that I was wrong and that you're worthy of becoming Hokage," Tsunade answered and then pointed to the piece of jewelry dangling around her neck, "I'll even throw in my necklace."

"Tsunade-sama, you can't!" Shizune cried out in shock as if her mentor was talking about committing a crime.

From over where they were standing Katara also gained a look of astonishment while Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at Tsunade, as if wondering what she was thinking.

"Eh, I don't really care for jewelry," Naruto answered, his face scrunched up in disinterest.

"What's so special about that necklace, anyway?" Korra asked with hands on her hips also sharing that similar feeling.

Jiraiya sighed, "Look, you numbskulls. That necklace was said to have been worn by the First Hokage. The stone for it is so rare that there are only two like it in the world. You could buy three mountains containing gold mines with it."

Both preteens showed a look of surprise. Neither of them had any idea a necklace could be worth so much.

Naruto quickly shook himself out of this astonishment, "Well if that's the case, then you're on, lady!"

Korra only shook her head. She didn't really care that much how valuable the necklace is. As far as she was knew, she wasn't even taking part in the bet. When she thought about it, though, that fact that the necklace used to belong to the First Hokage would probably be thrilling for her blonde friend to win.

"And if lose," Tsunade spoke again to get everyone's attention on her again, "You'll have to admit that you were wrong," she took out a toad wallet full of money, "and all the money inside your little toad friend is mine."

"Huh!? Gama-chan? But when- how did you-" Naruto began to frantically search himself for his precious wallet. He was to find that it wasn't on his person. He heard something being tossed him and quickly caught it, soon realizing that it was his toad wallet.

He growled at the Slug Sannin who only smirked in response.

"Shizune! Let's go," Tsunade called out to her apprentice before turning around and leaving.

Shizune only looked at her master's retreating back for moment before she turned the Korra and Naruto.

"I'm sorry about all this," she said as she placed both of her hands on their shoulders. Then she turned to Jiraiya and Katara and bowed to them, "I hope this won't cause any ill feelings, Jiraiya-sama, Katara-sama."

Finally she turned to follow her mentor… along with the pig from earlier.

After all of that, Naruto continued to wear an irritated expression, still sore the blonde woman's attitude.

"Just what the heck is that lady's problem anyway?" he thought out loud.

"Beats me," Korra replied with a shrug, "But do think you can pull off this bet?"

Naruto gave his famous grin, "Look who you're talkin' to! Besides, all I have left is to master the final step to this thing and I've finally managed to get it round this time. It won't be long now till I get it, and I'll make that old hag eat her words."

Korra chuckled at that, "Oh yeah. She made a big mistake to bet against the Number one Unpredictable, Hyperactive, Knucklehead Ninja."

"Haha! Yeah she-" the blonde genin stopped with a frown, "Wait. That almost sounded like an insult."

Korra merely shrugged and placed her hands around her head, "Hey, I'm not the one who came up with the nickname. Anyway, don't you have a jutsu to perfect?"

"Well I'd feel better if you'd given more vote of confidence and called me something better!" Naruto complained while pointing an accusatory finger at the brunette, "Like 'Future Hokage' or something!"

"Who said I was doubting you? I did say to get that jutsu finished up," Korra amusedly replied, seeming to enjoy getting under the blonde genin's skin.

While the two continued to bicker, or mainly Naruto ranted, Jiraiya and Katara looked with thought at the direction Tsunade had left.

She's become more hostile to the idea of Hokage, yet why would she make such a bet with her necklace of all things? The elderly waterbender could only wonder. Perhaps there was more to what Tsunade was thinking in making that bet.

---

(Later that night at a nearby hotel)

Naruto was in his room along with Korra preparing to go out and finish his Rasengan training.

"Alright! I'm ready to finish this!" Naruto said excitedly.

"Well, good luck," Korra said, "I've got some training of my own to do. I can't wait to see you perfect it."

There talk was interrupted for the moment as room door opened to reveal Shizune. Neither of the kids expected this encounter and interested in what the medic-nin had to say… Well Korra was. Naruto really wanted to go out and train and was kind of irritated that someone was getting in the way of that much-needed activity.

"What do you want? If it's not obvious already, I'm of to go train." Naruto complained.

Shizune only sighed, "I know that, but… I think it's important that you know about Tsunade-sama… about what that necklace means to her."

"Huh? What about it?" Korra asked with a raised eyebrow, "All we know is that it's worth a lot of money and it belonged to the First Hokage."

"Well it doesn't matter," Naruto answered with a snort with his arms crossed, "That necklace is gonna be mine anyway. She's nothing but a grumpy old bat as long she has it…"

"Don't you dare speak of Tsunade-sama that way!" Shizune shouted, surprising Naruto and Korra.

Shizune also seemed to realize she just shouted, "I…sorry," she said with her head down, "It's just… Tsunade-sama wasn't like how you've seen her."

"Well, why is she like this?" Korra asked, wanting to get some answers, "I mean, she was a student of the Third Hokage, why would she suddenly not want anything to do with the Hidden Leaf?"

"It's… a hard story to tell, and it's not a good memory for Tsunade-sama," Shizune replied, which got the curious and they decided to listen, "It all started when her younger brother became a genin…"

The Slug Sannin's apprentice went on to tell the two preteens about Tsunade admiring her brother, Nawaki's aspiration to becoming Hokage and giving him her necklace… only for him to die in a gruesome battle. The next tragedy came when she was in a relationship with a man named Dan, who was also Shizune's uncle. Dan too had the dream of becoming Hokage, and Tsunade gave her necklace to him in hopes that he would accomplish it. Sadly, Dan also met his end in battle, and what's worse is that Tsunade tried her best to heal him, but failed.

"That's horrible," Korra said in sadness, now seeing why the female Sannin was so bitter.

"Yes. And from that traumatic experience, she's gained the fear of even the sight of blood," Shizune continued in a sullen tone, "In each of those tragedies, the necklace always came back to her. Eventually, she ended up believing that it was cursed and only she can wear it. It wasn't long before she, with me along, left the village and hasn't looked back."

As she finished, Naruto was silent. He didn't say anything for about a minute before he made his way to the door.

"What the- where are you going?" Shizune demanded of the blonde.

Naruto only stopped to turn his head back at Shizune, "I'm going out to train."

Without another word, he left.

At the moment, Shizune was stunned. She expected the young genin to at least have second thoughts about taking on her mentor's challenge, but he walked out as he planned to as if her words had no effect on him.

"Just what is with that boy?" she asked no one in particular, "Didn't he hear a word I said?"

Korra shrugged, "Well, that's Naruto for you. He's not the type of guy who would back down from a challenge when he sets a goal for himself. Whether that curse is real or not, nothing's going to stand in his way," she responded, though in truth, she hoped the curse wasn't real and that her whisker-marked friend's determination wouldn't get him killed, "Anyway, I have some training of my own to do. See you around."

Without another word the female Avatar walked out of the room leaving a bewildered Shizune behind.

How can they just take my words lightly? She thought in shock. She then shook her head and figured she might as well wait until the week was over.

---

With Tsunade

The female Sannin was currently reclining on some form of Torii gate while deep in thought. She already had a conversation with Jiraiya over some drinks earlier. The Toad hermit already seemed to suspect that Orochimaru approached Tsunade with some sort of deal and he made it very clear he would kill her if she decided to agree to it.

Right now she had that and the other bet she made on her mind. She wasn't expecting very much from the kid, but in truth, she couldn't quite sure why she made that bet in the first place.

However, her thoughts were cut short as she heard a familiar voice call her name.

"Is it all right if we talk? You know I'm not able to jump up to where you are. Could you come down please?" Katara was calling with a bit of amusement in her voice.

Tsunade apparently didn't share the amusement as she let out an annoyed huff and jumped down from her spot to where the elderly waterbending master was standing.

"What do you want? I've talked with enough people already," She coarsely expressed with her arms crossed.

Katara only sighed, "It's been years since we've last seen each other. Is it wrong that I want to speak with a familiar face?"

"If you're trying to convince me any further then forget it," the Slug Sannin retorted, "I've already made my terms clear, and if the kid doesn't master the jutsu, then I'm done with talking about it."

"I always knew were stubborn, but I never would've thought you would be so closed off to the Leaf Village," Katara responded with a sullen tone, "I know what you went through was painful, but why have you become so bitter to point of denouncing what the Hokage stand for, what your grandfather believed in?"

"Haven't I made it clear already?" Tsunade replied barely containing her growing anger, "The position of Hokage is nothing but a sucker's bet! They became the strongest and most recognized ninja, but they gained nothing in the end. Most people who strive for that title die from the challenge, and those that do only carry a burden to the end of their lives. There's nothing to look forward to going back to the Leaf."

"If that's the truth, then why did you wager your necklace?" Katara inquired with raised eyebrow.

Tsunade flinched for a second before she turned away. She didn't answer.

"You can fool people all you want, but I know you still treasure everything your grandfather was. With the losses you've suffered it's a wonder why you still kept his necklace with, let alone bet it against someone wants to be Hokage," the elderly waterbender continued.

"You know he has no chance," Tsunade bit back, "It's just a way to get it in his head that his dream is ridiculous to reach."

"I could see that rationale with only giving him a couple of days, but to think you're actually giving him a whole week to do it. From I've heard from your reputation, I would think you would want to be on your way to another town already," Katara replied with her amusement still present in her tone.

To that, Tsunade couldn't reply.

"Is it perhaps…" Katara continued with a small smile, "That you actually hope that he can prove you wrong?"

Tsunade turned away from Katara as she was biting her lip in apprehension.

"I know you don't want to feel vulnerable to disappointment, but you're still too young to have to let despair rule your life. Having hope is a fearful thing, but it can lead to great rewards," Katara continued.

"You say it like it's easy," Tsunade replied bitterly.

"But it isn't," the Water Tribe woman responded with a frown, "I won't lie to you, the memory and the feelings won't fade. The desire to give up on everything is overwhelming, and at times you think there is nothing to look forward to."

Katara's thoughts were brought back to her most painful moments in life: her mother's death, her husband's passing, and most recently, the death of her brother. None of these tragedies were easy for her get through. Even when she met Korra, the loss of Aang was still fresh in her mind, but she was glad she eventually looked past the pain took care of Korra during her training. She smiled as remembered how she came to really care about the girl. At this point, she was glad to be her mentor.

"It doesn't have to stay that way, and sometimes, it just takes keeping yourself strong through it all to see it get better," Katara finished before she started to walk away.

"And by the way," she added as she was leaving, "I wouldn't count out Naruto just yet. From what I've seen of the boy, he has a very unique way of surprising you."

The elder waterbender finally left Tsunade alone to her thoughts.

---

Four nights later

"Ugh! Dammit!" Naruto cursed as he held his trembling hand.

So far, four days had passed, and Naruto couldn't say that he made substantial progress in trying finish to final step to the Fourth Hokage's jutsu.

He had been out in a deserted area that had a good amount of boulders and dead trees to practice on and kept at it day and night, only taking breaks when he needed to. Unfortunately, the improvements Naruto had made so for were only minimal and at the rate he was going, he wouldn't have the Rasengan done in time.

"Dang it," the hyperactive blonde muttered, "Just how am I going to get this?"

He then stopped himself from ranting any further and sat down with his legs crossed as he tried.

Okay, calm down. So I've mastered the first two steps this thing and all I have to do is combine what I've learned and contain it all. Naruto thought with his eyes squinted shut. But Pervy Sage also said that this requires chakra control, but I still struggle with that! If only there was something that could help... wait! There was something Water-Granny was doing before. What was it?

The blonde genin quickly thought back to a certain exercise Katara was doing as they traveled.

(Flashback)

"Hmm? Whatcha doing Water-Granny?" Naruto questioned the waterbending master as she was sitting cross-legged while her hands were brought together in some strange hand-sign.

Katara opened her eyes and turned the curious Uzumaki with a smile.

"Oh, I was simply meditating," she smiled she got up.

"Huh? How could you enjoy that? It's pretty boring if you ask me," Naruto replied with a grimace.

The elderly waterbender chuckled a bit, "I know it's not appealing to many people, even Korra doesn't think much of it. However, it's ever relaxing whenever you do it. There are actually a few who can use this exercise to enter the Spirit World."

Naruto gained a shudder, "Seriously, what is with you guys and ghosts? I'm sure glad I don't live on your side of the planet."

"Hmhm. Well, it's still a useful exercise, even to shinobi. It's a good way to develop balance and stability in oneself, perhaps helps brings things to mind that you wouldn't have thought of before."

Naruto only tilted his head in confusion as he wondered if something as boring as meditation could really be useful to him.

(End flashback)

Balance and stability, huh? The blonde jinchuuriki wondered. I wonder… if I could focus on my chakra, could it help me grasp what I need to use. Well, only one way to find out.

Immediately, he got into the meditation position he saw Katara use did his best to sit still for a while. Now, Naruto is known to be a very impatient person. Even he would admit it to himself, but he figured this would be important enough to try.

As he sat focusing on his chakra, Naruto started to feel out the reserves that he had. He was even starting to sense a bit of the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra filtering into his own.

Whoa. That sure is a lot to work with. Naruto internally marveled for bit. Well, it's time to figure something out.

With that Naruto went to work on mastering the Rasengan.

---

The Seventh night

The surrounding forested area was demolished. Trees were burnt, uprooted, or broken. The ground was jagged and cracked, and the dirt-covered, brunette Avatar was sweating heavily and resting in the middle of it.

Alright. I think I'm done for now. Korra thought as she panted to get her breath back. Better see how Naruto's doing. I think he said he was making a breakthrough with his training.

As soon as she cleaned herself up a bit, Korra went off to find her blonde friend.

"Hey Naruto," she called out when she got to the clearing Naruto had been in, "How's it going? You finished the Rasengan ye-"

Her words immediately died in her throat when she saw what was in front of her.

The boulders that were strewn around the area had deep craters, and some were even grinded to pieces. Dead trees that were there were also collapsed. As Korra looked at the surroundings, she finally caught notice of the familiar blonde lying on the ground. Immediately, she ran to him to check his condition.

"Hey, are you alright? Say something," Korra said as she shook Naruto to make sure he was awake. Before long, she heard a chuckle coming out of him and looked to his face to see him smirking.

"Heh heh… I… finally got it…" Naruto breathed out as he as panting, "By… tomorrow… that granny's… gonna pay up… on our… bet."

By the time he uttered the last word, he was already out cold. Korra shook her head.

"Always working yourself half to death," she said amused as she looked at her friend's still form, "But that's just you. You'll work yourself past any wall. If that's not Hokage material, I don't know what is."

---

(Hotel)

Shizune opened the door to Naruto's room, but as she walked in she didn't find anyone inside.

He can't still be working on the Rasengan this late, could he? She thought with concern. I better go out and find him. It's not good for him to be training nonstop.

As she was about to make her way out, she saw the door open again and realized that she wouldn't have to. Korra came walking in while carrying an unconscious Naruto on her back.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Shizune asked in anticipation as the Water Tribe girl went ahead to lay her blonde friend on one of the beds.

"He's fine. He just wore himself out. That's all," Korra replied as she started to yawn, "He said he finally managed to master the Rasengan. Heh, can't to see him wipe the smirk off Tsunade's face."

Shizune's eyes widened for a moment, but then brought her mind to Korra's condition. She figured she could dwell on the former. "You seem exhausted as well."

Korra yawned again, "Nah. I'll be fine," she then threw herself on the other bed. "I'll go to my room in a minute. I just… need to… lie… down a bit."

And just like that, Korra was already snoozing. Shizune took this time to tuck Korra in while she used her medical ninjutsu to check over her condition.

She must've really been training hard. But at least all she'll need is a good night's rest. It'll be interesting to see how strong of an Avatar she'll be in the future. She thought this to herself before she went over to Naruto and used the same procedure to check his condition.

Naruto's also been working himself hard. Too hard. Shizune deduced with a frown. He's out cold due to chakra exhaustion. Even if what Korra was true, Naruto would only be able wake up the day after tomorrow at best… and that's day too late.

After a while, stopped her procedure and sighed as took a step back. Just what am I going to do? She thought. I can't let Tsunade-sama agree to Orochimaru's deal. There's got to be a way to conv-"

Her thoughts were cut off when she heard door open and saw someone come in.

"Huh? Oh, Tsunade-sama."

---

Next Morning

Jiraiya groaned ever so greatly as his groggy mind tried to force its way back to consciousness. Immediately, he tried recalling what had happened, but his kept feeling like it would split if he put in the effort. On top of that, his whole body was aching and he found it incredibly difficult to move.

Just what the hell happened to me? He thought, frustrated.

The Toad Sage started to look at his surroundings and, to his surprise, he saw multiple people gathered around him with surprise and curiosity etched on their faces. One person in particular seemed to be talking to him.

"Huh?" Jiraiya could only utter out as his senses were starting to come back to him.

"I said are you alright, pal?" the man spoke, "You gave me quite a scare. I can't recall a time when a customer would drink so much that he passes out all the way till morning."

Confused, Jiraiya looked at where he was and recognized that he was right near a bar. So that's what happened? That's weird. I don't think there was ever a time I was this hungover. I remember correctly I was just here to chat it up with Tsunade and…

His thoughts came to a screeching halt as memories of last night came pouring in and he realized what must've happened.

"Oh, damn it all to hell," he cursed as he got up from the ground.

"Hey! Where ya going?" the bartender from earlier was yelling, but Jiraiya paid him no mind.

I gotta get back to the hotel. He thought. If I'm right, Shizune must be left there. She has to tell me everything.

---

(Back at the hotel)

Right now, Korra couldn't find herself in better comfort than asleep in a bed. She had spent so much time training that she didn't give herself a lot of time to rest. So now, she could just snooze away in peace with no care in the-

Poke.

Korra felt disturbed a bit, but paid no attention and went back to sleep. She would get when sh-

Poke. Poke.

Now she was agitated as felt the sensation again. Hopefully, if she ignored it, it would leave. Sadly, she was mistaken.

"Korra. Wake up! C'mon!" Korra heard a loud whisper as she was getting poked again. She definitely hoped it wasn't Naruto, otherwise she would have to give him a painful reminder of why she didn't like being woken up early in the morning.

"C'mon! Get up already!" Naruto continued with a frustrated sigh while trying shaking his friend awake, "Somethin' weird is going on. We gotta get to the bottom of- OW!"

Unfortunately for Naruto, he couldn't get to finish his request as he was socked right in the face – courtesy of the hot-headed Avatar.

"Augh!" the blonde genin whined as he rubbed the spot where his assaulted nose was, "Dammit! Why the heck did you do that!?"

To his response, Korra got from her lying position and aimed a very intense glare in the blonde's direction. "You know how much I hate mornings, Naruto," She said in a low, menacing tone.

"Look, that doesn't matter right now!" Naruto retorted back as he got up off the floor, "We gotta find that cranky old bat or Water-Granny right away!"

Korra could only raise her eyebrow in confusion before she looked around and saw Shizune lying unconscious on the floor.

"Hey, why's Shizune lying on the floor?" she could only ask.

"That's what I've been trying to figure out!" Naruto yelled in frustration.

Immediately, the door to the room opened and both kids turned to see Katara.

"What's going on?" she asked before seeing Shizune's prone form on the floor.

She quickly ran to her and checked if she was okay. Naruto, in the meantime, moved over to where she was.

"I dunno what's happening," he explained, "When I woke up this morning, I just saw her like this."

Soon enough, Shizune began to stir and soon regained consciousness. She groaned as her eyes came back into focus.

"Katara-sama? Naruto?" she asked confusedly.

"Shizune, I need you to focus right now," Katara said both calm and stern, "Could you tell me what happened?"

Tsunade's apprentice nodded and explained, "From what I remember, last night milady and I had an argument. I was trying to convince to not go through with Orochimaru's offer, but then she must've knocked me out…"

She immediately gasped when she realized the severity of the situation and got up. "Oh no! I have to stop her at once!"

Shizune quickly ran to the window before Katara could ask what Orochimaru wanted with Tsunade. However, something seemed to stop the medic-nin, and before long, everyone saw a weakened Jiraiya tumble his way in.

"Pervy Sage!? What the heck happened to you?" Naruto said in shock as he and Korra, who finally got out of bed, went over to him.

"Ugh. You totally reek!" Korra recoiled while placing her hands over her nose.

"Never mind that now! Where's Tsunade?" Jiraiya snapped before he had to keep himself from collapsing. "Damn that Tsunade, to she'd be able to spike my without me noticing."

He then explained what happened the previous night. In the meantime, Shizune went to get water for Jiraiya to drink and Katara used her bending water to diagnose and help improve his body's condition.

"This doesn't look good," Katara said after a while, "Tsunade used a very effective powder. Even now, it's greatly inhibiting your abilities. I'm afraid you'll have to wait for it to wear off completely. There's not much else I can."

Jiraiya could only sigh, "Well, considering Tsunade's skill, I should've figured as much."

"Nice going, Pervy Sage," Naruto chided with sarcasm.

"Yet another pretty face gets the better of you again," Korra added, joining in.

"SHUT UP!" Jiraiya comically yelled back.

As this was going on, nobody noticed a certain glasses-wearing ninja retreat from his hiding spot back to where he was coming from… except for Jiraiya that is.

"Shizune," he spoke to get the woman's attention, "I need to know everything. Just what is Tsunade planning?"

"Of course, but there's not much time. Please come with me, I'll explain on the way."

---

Regarding Tsunade's situation, she was finding herself in a tough spot.

That morning, after drugging Jiraiya and knocking out Shizune, Tsunade came to the spot in Tanzuku Town where she initially met with Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin was waiting there and was delighted to hear Tsunade agree to his offer that she heal his arms in exchange for seeing her loved ones again. As she was coming forward with medical chakra, Kabuto, who returned from his failed mission to kill Shizune, interrupted the process. Orochimaru, at first questioning Kabuto's action, soon realized that Tsunade had actually lied about their agreement and intended to kill him. She was fired up to take the Leaf traitor and his subordinate down, but they quickly decided to lead her away since Orochimaru learned, thanks to Kabuto, that Jiraiya was in the city. When they got to an abandoned field, Tsunade started fighting with Kabuto. At first, she seemed to have the advantage, but thanks to her old age inhibiting her, the younger medic-nin managed to strike her with his Chakra Scalpel Technique. When he thought he had won, Tsunade used that arrogance to her advantage and, with her medical jutsu and knowledge of the human body, launched an attack that disrupted his nervous system.

Currently, Tsunade was taking the time to heal herself while Kabuto struggled with his predicament.

He's skilled, I'll admit. She thought. But he won't be able to work his way through that. I just need a bit more time before I can finish him off.

Unfortunately for her, Kabuto seemed to figure out a way to work with his disrupted nervous system and was about to attack a surprised Tsunade before he had to dodge a series of senbon needles that were aimed straight for him.

As Kabuto landed next to Orochimaru, he and his master saw Jiraiya, Shizune carrying Katara, and Naruto carrying Korra on his back. They all took their place with Tsunade.

"Well, well," the Snake Sannin mused, "The bumbling fool makes his appearance. This really has become quite the reunion."

However, the Slug Sannin didn't seem to be pleased with this. "Stay out of this!" she yelled, "They're mine."

"Hmph. You could spare to leave a bit for some of us," Jiraiya said half-jokingly as he got in front of Tsunade.

"Tsunade, you don't have to treat this like it's your own battle," Katara started as she separated herself from Shizune, "We can fight with you as well."

No way. Tsunade thought. I started this battle and I damn well have to see it through. I'm not letting him get away with thinking I would do his bidding.

With those thoughts, Tsunade quickly knocked down Jiraiya before he could fight, as he couldn't put up much resistance due to his weakened condition, and made straight after Kabuto.

The silver-haired medical ninja was prepared, however, and as Tsunade was about to throw a punch, in an unexpected move, he slit his other wrist with a kunai so that his blood would splatter on Tsunade. Add to the Slug Sannin's hemophobia, this only made matters worse.

Blood! No! It's all over me! Tsunade was immediately frantic as she froze from attacking and let out panicked cries.

Heh. It's almost too easy. Kabuto smugly thought before made an attempt to punch Tsunade.

Much to his surprise, however, a torrent of water crashed right into him and forced him off of his feet, sending him tumbling backwards to Orochimaru's side.

The culprit was revealed to be Katara and she took this time to use her waterbending to wash off the blood that was on Tsunade and began to calm the younger woman down.

"Oh my, what another surprise," Orochimaru spoke again as he saw the elderly waterbender in action, "Another old fossil who hasn't seen fit to bite the dust yet."

Korra immediately bristled with anger hearing the pale man mock her mentor, but said mentor didn't give a quick response. Katara gazed over to Orochimaru with a blank face that only betrayed a hint of disappointment, "Your ambitions truly have changed you, Orochimaru."

The addressed pale man chuckled, "As if would be content with slowly wasting away as you seem to be and not seek the vast secrets that are in this world."

As this was going on, Naruto quickly caught notice of something.

"Wait a minute. What's Kabuto doing here? And why does he have a Sound Village headband?" Naruto wondered out loud.

"Wait. You know that guy?" Korra asked, not understanding why her friend would be asking about someone who apparently an enemy.

"Yeah. He was a Leaf ninja in the Chunin Exams. He actually helped out my team a lot," Naruto answered back as he began to look more troubled, "So why's he with that snake guy?"

"You haven't figured it out yet, Naruto?" Kabuto called out, overhearing their conversation, "I've been serving under Orochimaru-sama this whole time. I was merely a spy getting close to your team in order to gather information on Sasuke Uchiha, someone who shows much more potential than you."

Naruto growled with anger after realizing Kabuto really turned to be a traitor, but before he was about to pound him into the ground, Orochimaru spoke up again.

"Yes. A genius truly worth my interest. And what's more…" he paused as he set his eyes on Korra, "…someone of great power as well. I must say, Katara, when I heard you appeared in the Shinobi Nations again, I hadn't expected you to bring the Avatar here as well."

Katara and Jiraiya immediately widened their eyes after hearing the Snake Sannin's words.

Said Sannin chuckled after seeing their faces, "Oh don't look so surprised. I've learned enough about the Bending Countries to understand the Avatar's reincarnation cycle: Earth, fire, air,…" he brought his eyes back to Korra, "…and water."

Korra was becoming unsettled being the target of Orochimaru's predatory gaze, yet did her best to not seem intimidated.

"It's such a shame that your previous incarnation expired before I could obtain him as a specimen to study. Perhaps you will provide me that chance," his smile grew more menacing if that were possible, "maybe even as a potential replacement for Sasuke-kun."

Korra still tried her best to stay calm and look tough, but the way Orochimaru was looking at her sent so many chills up her spine. Looking at the man's eyes made her feel so incredibly small, like she was prey that had no chance of escaping from the predator. She could only compare this experience of killing intent with Gaara's glare at her, only that at time it came from wild, uncontrolled rage. This occurrence had Korra so paralyzed she couldn't think straight.

"Look you snake creep! I don't know what you want with Sasuke, but you're not goin' anywhere near my teammate, and you can bet your pale-white butt that you won't lay a finger on Korra while I'm around! Believe it!" Naruto was yelling with rage as he stood in front of Korra.

The blonde's outburst snapped Korra out of the trance she was in and felt herself relax. Orochimaru gained a curious look in his eyes as he saw Naruto's blue eyes slit for a second.

Mm. So the Kyuubi container displays a form of protectiveness over the Avatar. How intriguing. He thought and decided to file away that information for later.

"Don't even think about taking him on, kid," Jiraiya commanded as he stepped forward, "Both of you stay out of this fight."

"Wha- are you serious!?" Naruto yelled out in frustration.

"You could at least let us take on the four-eyed traitor!" Korra declared, also frustrated.

"Don't get ahead of yourselves." Jiraiya replied without looking back at the preteens, "This kid's way beyond the level of a genin, or even chunin for that matter. At best, he's probably just as good as Kakashi."

"These two have become stronger as well, Jiraiya," Katara cut in, "and keep in mind that you're not in you're not in the best condition. You can deal with Orochimaru. Korra and Naruto will assist Shizune in fighting Kabuto. I'll protect Tsunade while she recovers and provide some back-up if necessary."

Jiraiya mulled over the suggestion for a moment before finally agreeing to it. With the battle about to start, both Jiraiya and Kabuto executed handseals for a summoning jutsu. Kabuto brought forth two giant snakes, one for himself and the other for his master. Jiraiya, however…

"OH, WHAT THE HELL!" he bemoaned in anger.

…his summon turned out to be ever-so-small Gamakichi.

"Yo, wuttup? Ya got snacks?" the little toad inquired expectedly.

"Ha! How pitiful! The great formidable Jiraiya the Toad Sage can't even summon something that looks the least bit intimidating!" Orochimaru mocked while Jiraiya muttered curses under his breath.

Wait! With the right chakra control, maybe I could… Naruto thought before performing the same procedure for the summing jutsu and placed his hand on the ground. C'mon, work. He internally begged as the erupted smoke began to clear.

To the surprise of everyone, including the adversaries, the toad that Naruto summoned was another battle toad fit with armor pads on his arms, torso, and legs, sheathed katana and shield strapped to his back, and was at least above Jiraiya in height.

Whoa! It actually worked! Thought the hyperactive blonde as a sense of accomplishment welling up inside of him.

Well, it's not Gamabunta, but that should be plenty. Korra smirked, glad that Naruto's summoning attempt worked.

Hm. Orochimaru thought with a frown. Perhaps I should've killed that boy in the Forest of Death back then after all. Well, it matters not. My objective is at hand.

With his thoughts off the side, Orochimaru and Kabuto began their attack. The two snakes split up, each going to their targets. Jiraiya used his Swamp of the Underworld Jutsu to submerge the snake, though he couldn't make it deep due to his drugged state. Nonetheless, Orochimaru could no longer use his snake and abandoned it to attack Jiraiya. Thus, the battle between two Sannin began.

Meanwhile, Kabuto on his snake began his attack on Shizune, Naruto, and Korra. Deciding that Shizune was the bigger threat, Kabuto jumped off his snake to fight her while leaving the snake summon to attack the others.

The snake lunged at Korra, Naruto, and his toad summon before they quickly moved out of the way. Naruto went ahead and threw a few kunai with paper bombs attached at the snake's mouth. The giant reptile recoiled in pain, but still tried to go for the kill. This time, Korra blasted it with a stream of fire and the battle toad charged at it and cut through part of its skin with his katana. The snake writhed about in pain and tried to go after the battle toad in retaliation, but the amphibian blocked the strike with his shield and batted it away before slicing at it again.

Seeing that the battle toad had this handled, Naruto and Korra ran over to Shizune to help with her fight. Right now, the two apprentices were about even, except that Kabuto was able to evade Shizune's strikes. However, Kabuto wasn't able to make a lot of headway either as Katara would launch an attack at him whenever she would see an opening. Noticing that the two younger fighters were approaching them, Kabuto needed to end this fast. He pulled out two kunai and charged at Shizune to look like he was about to attack her. Shizune stood prepared when Kabuto threw the kunai only realized too late that the knives were aimed in Katara and Tsunade's direction. Those few seconds of distraction were all the glasses-wearing ninja needed to strike the female medic-nin in the arm with his Chakra Scalpel and knock her away.

At the same time, Katara had to bat away the kunai with her waterbending, but then noticed too late that Kabuto was coming straight for her. Kabuto was about to reach her with his medical jutsu, but then had to jump away as an earth line from Korra was coming at him. The brunette chased after him and shot fire blasts at him every chance she got. Kabuto continued to jump backwards and was careful to dodge the oncoming fire, but soon had to deal with multiple oncoming shuriken and shadow clones of Naruto trying to overwhelm. He quickly dispatched the clones, but then realized that he was in between the Avatar and jinchuriki as they launched a large fire blast and Great Breakthrough respectively. Jumping out of the way as the attacks collided into a huge explosion of fire, Kabuto was starting to grow irritated.

They're actually much tougher than I thought. He calculated while continuing to avoid them. I'll need a different approach.

Deciding on a plan, Kabuto threw a kunai attached to a paper bomb at Korra. The young Avatar made sure to get out of the before it exploded. Right as she regained her bearings, Kabuto came out of the smoke with a kunai intending to cut her down. Korra quickly summoned water from the ground to her hand and froze it to guard against the kunai. Needless to say, Kabuto was surprised to see the ice hold up even he applied pressure and Korra smirked at how her training had paid off. She took advantage of Kabuto's surprise and bent water with her other hand to knock Snake Sannin's apprentice away. Naruto, accompanied by his shadow clones, also came into the fray and they punched Kabuto to the ground simultaneously. Once Kabuto's form came to a stop, Korra trapped his limbs in earth slabs.

"Hah! Maybe that'll make you think twice about underestimating us!" Naruto cheered as his clones dispersed and he and Korra shared a high-five.

To their shock, the "Kabuto" that they captured began to melt until all that was seen was mud.

"What? I thought we caught him!" Korra said, wide-eyed.

"A mud clone?" Naruto questioned to himself.

The two suddenly heard Katara's screaming and realized they were tricked. "Dammit!" Naruto cursed as he and Korra turned to the distressed waterbending master.

Over at Katara's location, Kabuto had burrowed underground after he launched that previous kunai at Korra and come up from under Katara and severed the muscles in her ankle to knock her down. Now, Tsunade was at Kabuto's mercy since she hasn't fully recovered from her episode was getting into submission. Before he could do anymore damage, Naruto kicked him away. The blonde genin saw to making sure Tsunade was okay and Korra used waterbending to heal what she could of Katara's ankle.

Kabuto stood back and eyed his two opponents as they came back in position, ready to fight. He smirked, and in an unexpected occurrence, he gave a slow clap.

Naruto and Korra couldn't help but let the confusion show on their faces.

After a while, Kabuto stopped clapping, "I gotta admit, I seemed to underestimate the both of you. The Avatar shows a lot of skill with not only her bending, but close-combat. And Naruto's seemed to improve a lot as well," Kabuto praised with the condescending smirk still on his face, "But you're both in over your heads. Orochimaru-sama will continue to strive for his ambitions until nothing stands in his way. Kids like you should know by now that trying to stand up to him is futile. Think twice before you throw away your lives for nothing."

"Think again, Four-eyes!" Naruto yelled defiantly, "If you think I've shown all I can do, you'll see there's more where that came from!"

"Yeah, and between the Avatar and the future Hokage, I think that's enough to knock you flat on your face," Korra agreed.

"Hehehe. Don't tell me you're going along with his nonsense," Kabuto jeered, "You'll soon find that he's just spouting out imaginations and dreams like any kid would, and trust me, none of that has any place in the ninja world. I would've thought that as the Avatar you would know better. I'll tell you what. I'll give you both one chance to leave this battle. If not, I'll make sure you pay dearly for that decision."

The Water Tribe was starting to get irritated, but listened as Naruto whispered to her.

"Hey, Korra. I have an idea that might work. You up for it?" he asked.

"If it has anything to do with shutting him up, I'm all for it," Korra whispered back.

Tsunade, in the meantime, had heard listened to the words that Kabuto said to the kids and thought back to similar it was to how she talked down to Naruto and his aspirations to becoming Hokage. She looked as the kids were still not backing down.

"Run," she started to say, "Get out of here. You don't have to fight an impossible battle, Naruto. Your dream isn't going to come true if you die. Just run while can!"

However, Naruto didn't look back to her and only responded, "Don't think so, Granny. You're about to pay up on our bet!" He brought up his hands in a familiar handsign, "Besides, until I become Hokage, I don't plan on dying."

He summoned a large group of shadow clones surrounding himself and Korra.

"Pfft. This again?" Kabuto belittled before he got into his stance, "Fine. Let's get this over with."

With that said, the clones charged in a full-on assault with Korra joining. Kabuto easily dealt with the clones that tried to physically overpower him. He didn't much of this attempt until he also had to evade bending attacks from Korra within the crowd. Wanting to put an end to this, Kabuto chose to search for Korra in the crowd of clones. He dove into the group with a multitude of clones trying to stop him. This failed, however, and eventually he found the dark-skinned girl he was looking for and caught her.

"Korra!" one of the clones called and tried to save her, but the medic-nin defeated him with his Chakra Scalpel.

"You know, you're becoming more trouble than you're worth," Kabuto said as the Korra squirmed under his grasp before he used his technique to incapacitate her, "But even so, I think Orochimaru-sama would find you to be a very interesting subject to experiment on."

What Kabuto didn't expect, however, was to hear Korra snickering. "Just what do find so funny?"

Korra just looked up at him and grinned, "Fooled ya," she mocked before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

A shadow clone mixed with a transformation jutsu? He thought with shock until he saw something else to be concerned about like Naruto running up to him with rotating ball of chakra in his hand.

Huh? What is that? He thought with dread.

"Impossible," Tsunade could only utter in awe, "The brat actually mastered it?"

At the same time, Kabuto was about to jump out of the way. Whatever that is, I can't let it hit. As he made this deduction, however, he found that he couldn't move his feet. What?

"Don't even try it!" a yell from Korra got his attention and realized she trapped his feet in slab shackles with earthbending.

Before Kabuto could think of anything to do, he was hit directly in the stomach by Naruto's newly perfected jutsu.

"Rasengan!" the hyperactive blonde yelled out the name of his attack as it buried further into Kabuto's abdomen.

Seeing he had no other option, Kabuto clutched at Naruto's chest just before the force of spiraling chakra sphere even broke his earth restraints and sent him flying backwards straight into a boulder.

Korra, Katara, and Tsunade all watched the aftereffects of the jutsu in amazement.

Well done, Naruto. Katara beamed with pride. You've really come a long way.

He actually did it. Tsunade marveled as the reality finally set in.

"YES!" Korra jumped up with excitement seeing that Naruto's plan worked. She ran over to her whisker-marked friend who was panting from that last attack, "That was awesome! I think we got him for real this time!" she said as she lifted up her hand for a high-five.

"Heh. Yeah," Naruto agreed as he was about to meet the high-five, "looks like we showed him… what… for…"

Suddenly, his whole body gave way and started to collapse. Korra quickly caught him before he hit the ground hard. The battle toad that finally defeated the snake it was battling suddenly disappeared into smoke as a reverse summon.

"Naruto? What's wrong? Hey, snap out of it!" she was shaking Naruto to keep him conscious, at a loss to what was going on.

"Talking's not going wake him up. Not for this attack," Korra heard a voice. She turned and with surprise saw Kabuto walking up to then with a deep wound in his stomach, which was somehow healing.

"What?" Korra said with a shocked tone, "How are you even-"

"Back up so soon?" Kabuto finished for her, "It's quite simple. I gathered my chakra to my abdomen right before it was struck and it's already healing the wound."

This kid. Tsunade thought with narrowed eyes. His medical skills are on a whole other level to be able to withstand a jutsu like that.

"Well, at least I know that attack still hurt you," Korra said as she got up and punched a fist against her hand, "And I'm not giving you a chance to recover."

"Oh, I'd be more concerned about Naruto at the moment," Kabuto replied with a cruel smile, "You see, while Naruto hit me with that jutsu, I used my medical chakra to weaken his heart muscles. I even cut off circulation to the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra so even it can't heal him."

What!? Korra, Tsunade, and Katara thought in shock. Korra quickly dropped down to Naruto's side and placed her ear where his heart was. To her horror, Naruto's heart was beating irregularly. Without wasting another second, Korra bent water from her container and attempted to heal him. Kabuto only chuckled in the background.

"I'm afraid water healing won't do anything to save him," he said, "You can't reverse the damage. He'll die right on this battlefield."

"Shut up!" Korra retorted sharply and continued to do her best to save her friend, "C'mon, Naruto. Get up already. Don't let this stop you!"

Tsunade was watching this scene and felt herself hallucinate and think back to when Dan died.

"Don't go! Don't go! Don't go!" were the words that echoed in her mind when she pleaded for him to stay alive. She looked down at her hands and could see the blood stains of her lover as she failed to save his life. And she was about to see it again. The curse would continue to rule her life until the end.

"It doesn't have stay that way." She then heard Katara's words in her head. She looked at her hands again and tightened them into fists. How long was she going run from past and give up on the dreams that Nawaki and Dan died for without trying?

Not anymore. She decided.

Despite Korra's best efforts, she could feel Naruto's life slipping away. She didn't want to admit it, but she knew her friend wouldn't last much longer.

No. She internally pleaded desperately. I can't let this happen! I can't!

Before she realized it other hands were over hers. She looked to see Tsunade's face.

"Let me," the Slug Sannin said with a commanding tone and unwavering eyes.

Reluctantly, Korra pulled water away from Naruto and let Tsunade do her work. Sadly, there wasn't any significant change at the moment and Korra could still feel her best friend's body getting colder as she held his hand.

"It's seems that even Tsunade's legendary medical prowess can't save him. Hmph. So much for becoming Hokage," Kabuto continued to taunt from where he stood.

"Just shut your mouth!" Korra yelled at him, "He will become Hokage! He'll make it through this!"

"Hahahahaha! You can't be serious! You actually believed his dream?" Kabuto couldn't help but laugh, "You must be childish as he is if you think he ever had a chance. A failure despised by his village for power contained in him, Hokage? What a joke."

Korra wanted so much to beat Orochimaru's right-hand man within an inch of his life, but she didn't want to leave Naruto's side at the moment.

He can't die yet. She tried to reassure herself. There's so much he wants to do.

She thought back to when she first met the loud-mouthed blonde.

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

To everyone, he seemed like a little kid trying to talk big, but she no he held a lot of conviction.

"I'll do whatever it takes to become Hokage, and I never go back on my word."

She fought back the tears as best she could. She didn't want to believe what was happening. She watched him grow stronger as time passed.

"Maybe it's the Hyuga way to cave into destiny, but it's not mine!"

She continued to see what he could eventually be, and promised herself that he would have back and help him reach his goal.

And now she was about to see him die.

Korra couldn't fight back the tears anymore.

"So now you get it," Kabuto taunted, seeing the tears, "The dream he had was worthless just as his whole life was."

At that moment, Korra snapped. She couldn't hold back the rage any longer and the amount she was about to release was a volcano of fury.

---

(ATLA OST: Avatar State)

"Enough!" she yelled as she glared at Kabuto with glowing white eyes.

Kabuto's condescending smile completely disappeared and his confidence was replaced with dread. Katara and Tsunade were shocked as well. Oh no. Thought the waterbending master.

"I've heard enough out of you!" declared the Avatar before she shot out a huge blast of fire at Kabuto.

Seeing he had no other option, the Sound medical ninja gathered as much chakra as he could to protect himself before the fire engulfed him. He skidded across the ground with very bad burns on his skin.

Dammit! He internally cursed. Naruto's jutsu did more internal damage than I thought, and I used way too much of my chakra to heal and protect myself! I'm completely defenseless!

True to Kabuto's fears, he was at the Avatar's mercy as she thrashed him around using all four elements.

Back with Jiraiya and Orochimaru, the two Sannin stopped their fight momentarily to see Korra in the Avatar State beating up Kabuto.

Damn! Of all the times for this to happen! Jiraiya thought with a curse.

So the Avatar State can be triggered by emotions as well? Orochimaru thought in amazement. If that's the case, it's become too dangerous to continue fighting. But at the very least, I should get rid of the Uzumaki brat. He looked over to Tsunade and saw that she actually managed to heal Naruto gave him her necklace. There's no telling what could happen if the Akatsuki get their hands on him, and even if they don't, he'll present a strong influence over Sasuke-kun in the future. I can't allow that to happen.

Intend on his decision, Orochimaru left Jiraiya where he was and dashed to where the weakened Naruto was in hopes of killing him. Jiraiya saw this and tried to stop him, but his former comrade extended his tongue to catch Jiraiya's leg and slammed him on the ground. The Snake Sannin continued on his way with his Sword of Kusanagi sticking out of his mouth and tried to stab the Kyubi container, but Tsunade got in his way.

Back at Kabuto's predicament, the medical ninja was bruised, bloody, and breathing heavily as he was motionless on the ground. Above him, Korra was levitating on a pillar of air and lifted a huge chunk of earth from the ground with her bending, intending to use it to crush Kabuto.

"Tsunade!" Katara shouted out.

Korra was distracted by her mentor's voice and turned to see Orochimaru stabbing Tsunade who had apparently jumped in front of Naruto. Seeing this scenario, she realized that the traitorous Sannin tried to kill Naruto, and it made her seethe with rage.

"I hadn't intended to kill you, Tsunade," Orochimaru remarked as he removed his blade from the woman's heart, "Why would you willingly risk your life to save this brat?"

"Because I… want to protect… the dream that Dan… and Nawaki once had," Tsunade panted heavily due to the grievous injury, "and I'll do so… as the Fifth Hokage!"

"Hmph. What a waste," Orochimaru said with disgust and slashed her across the chest.

Changing focus to Naruto, he tried to go for the kill again, but Tsunade blocked him again. She then used this chance to remove the sword and punch Orochimaru in the face. The enemy ninja got up, only to see that the female Sannin activated the seal on her forehead and realized that killing Naruto was becoming more difficult.

He soon realized he had a worse problem, however, when he had to dodge large fissures of earth coming his way. He saw the Avatar coming after and sending out a large wave of water that turned into ice spears as they rained down on him. Orochimaru made sure to avoid those as best he could and had to jump away from a long stream of fire that threatened to engulf him.

He was so preoccupied with this he couldn't see Korra shooting towards him with fire propulsion from her fists and feet before it was too late. Korra reared one of her fists back and shot out a devastating fire punch straight into the Snake Sannin's chest.

Orochimaru screamed in pain as he felt his insides getting burned by the Avatar's attack and was eventually thrown through the air and skidded across the ground. Once he came to a stop, Korra rushed to finish him off, only for a cloud of smoke to appear in front. The smoke dissipated and revealed another giant snake which was summoned by Kabuto. It turns out that the medic-nin used his form of a soldier pill when Korra pulled away from attacking him earlier. The snake tried to bite at Korra, but the girl quickly killed it with a stream of fire straight into its mouth. But while that was happening, Kabuto had already reached his master.

"Kabuto," Orochimaru said weakly as he was in terrible pain, "we must retreat."

His right-hand man didn't have to be told twice and quickly performed an escape jutsu on the both of them just before Korra could focus on them again.

When Korra that her enemies were nowhere to be found, she let out a yell of frustration and the ground quaked along with that anger. The wind circled around her as her rage was building. Suddenly, she felt a hand grasp her arm and saw that it was Katara. However, this didn't serve to calm her down.

"LET GO OF ME!" she screamed as tried to pull her arm away.

But Katara held firm, "The fight is over, Korra. There's no need to stay enraged."

"NO! I have to find them! I can't let them get away after everything they've done! Naruto's dying because of them!" Korra shouted back.

"It won't do you any good to search for them. Trust me, we will stop them one day, but right now, we must rest. Tsunade managed to save Naruto's life, so we can wait until he wakes up."

"Really?" Korra questioned in a soft voice and stopped struggling, "Naruto… is alright?"

Katara smiled and nodded, "Yes, he's unconscious at the moment, but he is perfectly fine."

She turned the both of them to where Naruto was lying, and after taking in his condition, the white glow from the Avatar State faded from Korra's eyes. Tears flowed out of the girl's eyes and she immediately hugged Katara.

"I'm sorry," she cried, "I was just… I was so scared that…"

"It's alright," Katara assured her, there was nothing wrong with you feeling this way. Everything is fine now."

Eventually, the elderly waterbender realized that Korra had passed out due to instinctively going in and out of the Avatar State and the stress of the situation. She then picked up the girl and carried her over to where Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune, who was now conscious, had gathered around Naruto.

---

"There. That should do it," Kabuto breathed out as he finished his work.

Those words of accomplishment didn't do much to ease Orochimaru's nerves as he continued to breathe heavily. The two had managed retreat from the battle back their hideout. Kabuto took the time to heal Orochimaru of his injuries, which was not easy since the whole experience from today had drained him a lot.

Right now, the Sound Village leader could only contemplate on his failed attempt to recruit Tsunade.

"I wouldn't have imagined that our plans in regards to today would go completely awry," he finally spoke up, "Perhaps now we should focus on our other goals."

I may have to be more watchful in the future. He thought. If this is how strong the Avatar and the Kyubi jinchuriki are now, they could eventually disrupt my plans if I'm not careful.

But for now, he would focus on recovering, and plan to procure Sasuke as a new vessel.

---

Naruto groaned as he started to wake up. He grasped his head as he got in a sitting position.

"Ugh, my head hurts," he whined before he felt the memories rush back to him.

He remembered the fight with Kabuto and hitting him with the Rasengan, but he recall anything that happened after that. Dammit! Just what happened? Is everyone okay?

His thoughts were cut off as he felt a lick on his face. He turned to a see a polar-bear dog panting happily.

"Naga? Wait what're you doing here? Where's Korra?" he asked. In response, the beast barked at the door to what Naruto realized to be his hotel room. Soon enough, the door opened and revealed Korra and Katara standing there.

"Wow, you guys are okay! Do you mind telling me when Naga got here?" the blonde said.

Strangely, he didn't get an answer and was immediately hugged tightly by Korra instead. The whisker-marked genin could only look confused as he didn't know what would cause Korra to act like this.

The Water Tribe girl pulled away from him and with a teary smile said, "I'm glad you're alright."

---

Next Morning

After a following explanation, Naruto and company, along with the White Lotus sentries that arrived, stayed in Tanzuku Town for the day.

The following morning, everyone was ready to leave the city, with Katara, Korra, and the White Lotus returning to the South Pole, and Jiraiya's group heading back to the Leaf Village, Tsunade and Shizune in tow.

"Have a safe journey, everyone," Katara addressed the ninja group, "and good luck the your new role as Hokage, Tsunade."

"Thank you. Be sure to give Kya and Tenzin my regards," Tsunade replied with a grateful smile before shifting to a frown, "and tell Bumi he can jump off a cliff."

Katara chuckled, "I'll be sure to relay your words. Plus, I can be sure you can keep a close eye on Jiraiya."

The Toad Sage groaned while the newly named Fifth Hokage sent a smug expression his way.

"Well, it's time I head back south to train again," Korra said to Naruto as they were about to say their goodbyes.

"Yeah. Looks like I won't be seeing you for a while," Naruto said, a little crestfallen.

"I guess so," Korra replied, a little sad too, "but at least you've gotten a lot stronger, and to top it off, you mastered a technique invented by the Fourth Hokage himself. I'm sure to see you get better in the future. Just… be sure to take care of yourself, ok?"

Naruto felt a bit uncomfortable hearing her talk, especially after find out how his almost dying affected her. He sort of felt guilty for making her feel that way, like he hasn't done enough to reassure her when she's done so much for him. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Hey, Korra. Close your eyes," he said.

"Huh?" the brunette questioned.

"Just do it. I'm gonna give you something."

Korra was confused at the moment, but she shrugged and complied nonetheless. After a moment, Naruto told her to open her eyes, and as she did she only saw Naruto with hands behind his head and a wide grin.

"Okay… so what did you give me?" Korra asked unsure what this was about.

"Feel around your neck," the blonde replied.

She went ahead and did that only to be surprised when she felt a rope and something circular there. She pulled the object to her view and saw none other than the red swirl that was a part of Naruto's necklace.

"Naruto. This is-" Korra said, lost for words.

"Yep. And now it's yours." Naruto replied with his grin still present.

"But I can't have this. It's the only thing you have of your family," Korra argued.

"Don't sweat it. I already have a new necklace now," blonde genin said, pointing to the green crystal necklace he had on, "And besides, I can at least that it'll be safe with you."

"Are you sure," Korra asked, still questioning.

"Yeah. Ever since we met, you've had my back all this time. You always rooted for me even when times got tough, so I want you to know that I'm rooting for you too and I trust you a hundred percent! After all, I kept your armband safe all this time, so I don't think you'll lose my necklace for the most part."

"Hmph. Doubting me already?" Korra feigned to be offended as she punch Naruto in the arm, "Yeah, I'm quite sure I can handle it."

The two friends shared a laugh and then hugged each other goodbye. Before long, the two groups separated from each other, traveling to their respective locations. Another tough battle was fought and won, and two heroes strived to prepare for the challenges that would be sure to surface.

---

Welp, that's another one done. I'm probably gonna be break for I do another one. Merry Christmas everybody!