The New Avatar:
Hello everybody, and welcome to a new story! In, I suppose, honor of the release of the new Avatar live action, I decided to whip this up and put it out on a different site at the time the live action came out. It's an idea I've had in the works for a while, just never got around to it. I figured either against all odd the new series is good, so we're looking for more, or its bad and we need to have a pallet cleanser and people want more still. I'd say my overall opinion is it was okay, there were a few things I didn't like but oh well.
Hope you enjoy. Feel free to leave a review and fave and follow if you liked it.
Book 1: Water:
Chapter 1: The Man on the Bison
x-x-x-x-x-x- TNA -x-x-x-x-x-x
The South Pole was remote, and frigid.
Sitting at the bottom of the world, at times it had been a bastion of culture and spirituality, at others a haven for pirates, who found the life of thievery and pillage was the easiest way to make a life for their families. His mother had raised him on stories of how her homeland used to be.
Nowadays it was mostly a shell of its former glory, a once great society brought low by a hundred years of invasion from the Fire Nation.
Sat upon a gliding albino sky bison, Naruto breathed in the chilled air deeply as mountainous ice crags rose like buildings lining the chill waterways.
The wind swept back his spiky golden hair. His mother had once told his hair and the whisker marks on his face were from a fox spirit possessing her when she was pregnant with him. There was no way of knowing if it was true, but it was as good an explanation as any for why he had a hair color nobody else seemed to have.
Suno gave a grumbling groan, expressing his annoyance at how long they'd been in the air. Sat on the lip of the large saddle that spanned across the bison's back, Naruto patted the pale silver markings of his companion.
"There, there buddy. We're getting close. You can rest soon."
The bison gave a grateful groan. Feeling a shifting in his orange shirt, Naruto glanced down as an odd-looking fox poked his head out of Naruto's shirt. The fox had black markings trailing from his eyes to his inner ear, and ruby red eyes. The fox growled; eyes narrowed against the wind.
"Done napping Kurama?"
The small fox growled in agreement.
Without warning, Suno swerved to the side, and it was a good thing he did, because a flaming projectile soared past, letting out an unholy shriek as it smashed into the side of a cliff.
Naruto peered out over the saddle, cursing as he spotted a dark grey ship cutting through the water. Clad in metal, with the emblem of the Fire Nation, the ship belched a smokestack as the steam engine helped power it through the water.. Men ran around on deck in red armor, lighting other projectiles in metal trebuchets on fire in preparation to launch them.
Seizing the reins tied to Suno's horns, Naruto began guiding his bison to dodge a second boulder. He felt the heat of the fire as it passed close, causing sweat to break out across his brow. Shouting rang out across the sea, as the Fire Nation ship pursued them, its sleek form knifing through the frigid waters. Suno soared forward, adding extra speed as the lumbering six-legged bison tried to flee the deadly barrage.
Using the reins, Naruto weaved in and out of the ice bergs, hoping to lose the ship. He glanced backwards. The smokestack was the only thing he saw, and even that was separated by several towering ice cliffs. He let a sigh slip through his lips, turning back around to look ahead, only to widen his eyes. A ice shelf jutted out, not thirty meters away, and they were going to collide with it.
Going far too fast, and exhausted from the chase, Suno had no chance to avoid it. Naruto acted quickly, swiping his arms to create a sphere of air that protected them as they slammed into the ice cliff.
The cliff shattered into chunks, raining down into the seas below. Safe inside the ball of air, they continued on to crash into a thick sheet of ice that stretched for miles. Naruto's wind sphere protected them, drilling a crater into the ice. He was still jostled from the impact, flying over Suno's head. He had just enough presence of mind to twist around, protecting Kurama from the impact.
He slammed into the ground, driving the air from his lungs, and bruising his back.
Naruto groaned, moving slowly as he heard the crashing of icy waves. He was a bit unsteady. The world seemed to blur and tilt, slowly coming into view. A throbbing pain in his head lingered. Kurama slipped out of his shirt, leaping onto the ground, and shaking himself irritably.
Seeing the fox was fine, Naruto quickly went to the crater and peered down.
"You okay Suno?"
The Bison groaned, as good as an affirmative as he'd get. Naruto sighed in relief. He took a moment to close his eyes and focus on the scene surrounding him. A heavy silence surrounded him, filled only with the groans of ice and the howl of a bitter wind. Carried along by that wind, he could hear faint cries for help.
"Sokka, are you okay? Keep swimming!"
"I'm not gonna make it Katara!"
Alarmed, he rushed across the ice, using air to prevent himself from slipping and sliding. As he approached the edge, he saw two people his own age–a boy and a girl with the light dusky skin and wearing the pale blue furs of the southern water tribe–swimming against the current to try and reach the ice shelf. The shattered remains of a canoe drifted in the water, likely crushed by the falling ice from his crash. Feeling a stab of guilt, Naruto hurried to help them.
He jumped into the water. It was like thousands of needles stabbing his skin, but he fought through the feeling. Wearing much thinner clothes, he was able to quickly reach the two water tribe members.
"Here, put your arms over me!" He called urgently.
The two blinked in confusion but quickly did as he suggested, throwing their arms over his shoulders. With only his powerful legs, he started kicking, driving them towards the bank. Looking back, given how fast they soared through the water, there was probably a bit of water bending used.
In that moment Naruto was unaware, driving them towards the ice bank. Though there he faced another problem. The two were just too heavy with their soaking furs to haul onto the bank at the same time.
Thinking quickly, he crawled onto the slippery ice and shouted back to his animal companions. "Suno, come help me get them out."
He heard Suno grunt in acknowledgement and felt the shiver of the ice as the bison lumbered towards them. The male water tribe member let out a shriek of fear as the albino bison bent down and grasped the hood of his furs between his teeth, hauling the teen out easily. Naruto, meanwhile, offered his hand to the girl, pulling her onto the ice.
They collapsed in panting heaps on the ice. Supremely spent, he was a little annoyed when he heard the water tribe boy give a shriek and scramble away from Suno.
"Ah, furry monster, he's gonna eat me!" The boy screeched.
"He's a vegetarian, relax." Naruto sighed, too tired to be annoyed.
"Oh." The boy looked a bit sheepish.
Letting loose a sigh, Naruto sat up. He felt goosebumps break out across his arms, as the icy wind swept over him. It felt like it was passing straight through him and carrying every ounce of heat away. For the first time, he got a good look at the two water tribe people. They both wore thick, light blue hooded fur robes, and matching pants, with bulky mits, all trimmed with the white fur of white hamsters. The boy looked a bit skinny, though it was hard to tell with the furs. He had a narrow face, and the side and backs of his head were shaved. Only the top of his head was grown long, pulled back into a small ponytail. His skin was light brown, and he had blue eyes, a quirk of the water tribes.
The girl, on the other hand, was far more interesting to him. She had an oval face, with soft, light brown skin, and chocolate brown hair pulled into a braid, save for two loops with beads that framed her face. Her deep blue eyes were almond shaped, rimmed by thick lashes. She looked about his age, eighteen.
Naruto felt a heat build inside his stomach, fighting off the cold. He'd always had a special appreciation for the female form. He blamed it on that lech Jiraiya.
Shaking his head, he stood up, offering an icy hand to the girl. She took it gratefully, and he hauled her to her feet, before helping the boy up as well. Judging by their features, they were probably siblings.
"Thank you, that was really brave of you, helping us like that." she said, somewhat breathlessly. "I'm Katara, and this is my older brother Sokka."
"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." He introduced himself politely.
"Yeah man, thanks, it was crazy. We were just paddling along and then–BOOM! A giant chunk of ice fell down and caused a bunch of waves, and our canoe got trapped in the ice and smashed. I don't know how much more we coulda swam." Sokka waved his arms, gesturing wildly as he explained the story.
He shook his head. "You shouldn't be thanking me; it was my fault in the first place. Me and Suno here were being chased and we weren't looking where we were going and crashed into the ice."
"What the heck man, be more careful!" Sokka growled. It looked for a moment like he was about to reach for a sheath on his back, but Katara stopped him, looking at Naruto curiously.
"Hold on Sokka, let him explain." She tried to reason with her brother. "Naruto, you said you crashed into the iceberg, but to be that high up you'd have to be flying."
"Come on Katara, get real. People don't just fly, especially when they're riding giant bison monsters." Sokka scoffed, crossing his arms.
Suno grumbled, blowing out a hot snort of air that threatened to bowl Sokka over. Slightly bemused, Naruto patted the bison's cheek soothingly.
"Actually, Suno here is a Sky Bison, like the air nomads of old rode. He can fly."
Sokka and Katara gaped, staring at the bison in disbelief. Not one to be deterred, Sokka shook his head, and denied Naruto's claim.
"Yeah right, and Katara can fly too." He quipped sarcastically. Though he quickly let out a yelp as Katara smacked him across the back of the head and gave him a disapproving stare, before smiling warmly at Naruto.
"Ignore my dumb brother, he's a bit skeptical."
Naruto shrugged. "No problem. Once Suno gets some rest he'll show you he can fly, won't you boy?" He patted his bison's head, earning an approving snuffle. "He's a bit tired now. We flew here all the way from a small island off the Earth Kingdom, it's a long ways. Then he had to go even faster when we were getting chased."
"Naruto, if you don't mind, you've mentioned that who were chased twice. Who was chasing you?"
At the reminder of his pursuers, Naruto quickly glanced to the north. Thankfully, he couldn't see the smokestack of the Fire Navy ship. Still, best not to take any risks.
"A fire nation ship spotted us flying over the sea. No idea what they're doing here, but we should probably leave. Since we destroyed your boat, we'll take you back to your village."
Sokka's eyes widened fearfully. The teen quickly nodded, doing his best to scramble up Suno's side. Eventually, the boy managed to climb over the lip of the saddle and tumble inside. Looking around for Kurama, he was a little concerned to see the fox was nowhere in sight. Surely it hadn't wandered off?
"Where's Kurama?" He muttered.
"Who's Kurama?" Katara asked.
Up in the saddle, Sokka shouted in surprise, "Yeowch, why is there a fox in these furs?"
He rolled his eyes. Of course, the little jerk had ran and gotten in the saddle already. "Sounds like you'll meet him, now, step up." Naruto glanced at Katara, before cupping his hands and kneeling down.
The pretty girl nodded. She placed her dainty foot into his hands, and Naruto easily lifted her up, his momentum throwing her halfway over the saddle before she climbed the rest of the way herself. Glancing around carefully, Naruto leapt up, boosting himself with air before grasping the edge of the saddle and swinging himself over. He landed in the softly padded saddle, seeing the two water tribe siblings staring at Kurama as the grumpy fox stared at Sokka.
"Play nice Kurama!" He told the fox, who shot him a look, giving an annoyed yip. Rolling his eyes, he introduced the two to his second companion. "Sokka and Katara, this is Kurama, he's been with me as long as I remember. Honestly, he's more like a member of the family than a pet."
Katara smiled kindly to the little fox, offering him a slight bow. "Nice to meet you, Kurama."
With the formalities out of the way, Naruto focused on the next most important task. Seeing Katara beginning to shiver, he strode over to the pile of fur blankets. He'd packed them just in case he had to camp on the ice, thankfully.
"I suppose these won't be useful until we get dry." He muttered with a frown. He could always try and dry them off with Airbending, but then they'd know about it, and that would only put the siblings in danger. There weren't supposed to be any airbenders left.
Luckily, Katara had heard him, and she offered a solution. "Hold on, give me a second, I'll have us dry in a second."
Naruto rose an eyebrow, as the girl scrunched up her face in concentration. She planted her feet, then went through a slow shift, waving her arms through the air like streams of water. He felt a slight tug as all the water was pulled from their clothes and skin, gathering into a beach ball sized orb that Katar sent flying with another wave. Naruto grinned and began to clap enthusiastically.
"Whoa, that was awesome! You'll have to teach it to me. I can only do a few simple tricks."
Katara blushed, before his words registered and her eyes stretched wide, "Wait, does that mean you're a waterbender too?"
He nodded. "Yeah, though I haven't had the chance to learn yet."
"Great, another magic water person!" Sokka complained.
"Don't you start again!" Katara shot back. Clearly, it was part of a bigger argument that had been going on. Naruto smiled as he watched the sibling's bicker. He had never had any siblings of his own, though he often wished he did.
"Well, hopefully I can learn a lot while I'm here in the South Pole. That's part of the reason here, to learn the Southern Water Bending Style from the master's here."
Turning around, Naruto completely missed how the siblings shared worried a look, as he bent to grab the two blankets. He picked them up and then turned back, tossing one to Sokka. The heavy fur blanket knocked the tribe boy on his back. Heedless to this, Naruto wrapped the second around Katara's shoulder much more gently. She smiled gratefully, grasping the hems, and pulling it tight around herself.
"Won't you be cold?" She asked.
He shook his head, glancing down at the simple orange tunic, long-sleeved yellow shirt, and black pants he wore. His red wrist wrappings were the only thing keeping his hands warm. Turning to go to the front of the saddle where he took the reins. "Don't worry, now that I'm dry, I'll be much warmer. Now, let's get going." Snapping the reins, he said, "Yip yip Suno, let's go by water."
The bison groaned, before leaping into the water, quickly using his tail and six legs to glide through the icy sea. As they went, Naruto glanced over his shoulder. "Just tell me which way to go."
"Got it." Sokka agreed.
Clad in the fur blankets, the siblings shuffled forwards. As he followed their directions, the blond chatted with the two, learning a lot more about them. It turned out that Sokka was actually a year older than he and Katara, at the age of nineteen. He'd been left behind when the men of his village went off to aid the Earth Kingdom in fighting the Fire Nation. He shared plenty about himself as well.
"You said learning water bending was one of the reasons you're here, what was the other?" Katara asked.
Naruto smiled, "Well, my mom is actually from the Southern Water Tribe. I wanted to visit her village, see where she grew up."
"Oh? Perhaps you can ask Gran Gran, she's the one that stays connected with the other villages the most. She's served as leader in our father's absence." Katara explained.
That just made him all the more eager, and when he saw plumes of white smoke and a gathering of tents and a central igloo inside a carefully made wall of snow and ice, Naruto felt a thrill of relief. He could finally rest and–hopefully–learn more about the water tribes.
x-x-x-x-x-x- TNA -x-x-x-x-x-x
Darkness had descended on the little village that Sokka and Katara lived in.. He was surprised to find it was only women and children. They'd greeted him kindly, breaking out a spare tent made of animal hides for him to occupy. Once it had been staked down, his first order of business was getting a fire going in the metal stove. The stove was an ugly thing, made of uneven panels of metal he suspected had been salvaged from a Fire Nation ship and smelt together.
He fed the flames diligently, quickly suffusing the tent with a warm air. Kurama curled up under the stove, soaking in the heat. Naruto himself rubbed his hands, holding them to the heat.
Staring into the flames, he reflected on the day. It had started off pleasantly enough, leaving the Southern Air Temple for the South Pole. He'd hoped to find a Waterbending master here, but after a simple look of the village, he doubted whether there was any waterbender besides Katara. If their father was the chief of the tribes and this is the condition of his village, the others couldn't be much better.
"Well Kurama, guess it's onto the North Pole tomorrow. I've gotta learn Waterbending, one way, or the other."
The fox raised his head, shooting Naruto a narrow-eyed look.
"Oi, don't give me that look, I ain't going back there to learn, I enjoy living!"
They were soon interrupted by a voice coming from outside. "Naruto, it's Katara, can I come in? I've brought my grandmother."
"Sure thing," He called back.
Katara pulled back the heavy tent flap, and ushered in a silver-haired woman, stooped from age. The woman bore an uncanny resemblance to Katara, her grandmother Kanna, or Gran Gran, as she was known. They'd only spoken briefly before. He'd gotten the sense the woman was sizing him up, judging whether he could be trusted.
"Greetings, young one. My granddaughter says you are here to find a Waterbending master." Kanna spoke, her voice ripened and cracked with age.
"Yeah, though I suppose you've got bad news for me, don't ya?"
Kanna nodded, as Katara tried to hide a guilty look. "Indeed, the Fire Nation has been very diligent in trying to kill any waterbender they can find here. My Katara is the only one left. Tell me child, she said your mother was born here. I find it most curious that a child from the water tribe should come from so far off, on an air bison of all things. And forgive me, but you don't exactly look like most people of the water tribe, save for the eyes."
The elderly woman spoke with a confidence and disregard for politeness that came with age, much to her granddaughter's chagrin.
"Gran Gran!"
"No, it's fine Katara." Naruto waived off the girl's protest. "She makes a good point." It was only natural for Kanna to be suspicious. One didn't survive a hundred years of raids from the Fire Nation without being cautious. "My mom was from here, but she hasn't been back in a long time. About twenty years, in fact. She was taken in one of the raids to arrest waterbenders, but eventually she escaped and settled down." The elderly woman nodded, though she gave him a prodding look, as though he should continue.
"As for my appearance, well we have a rather … colorful, history." He hesitated. It was possible, if he was honest, they might have a negative reaction. After all, even though it was hundreds of years ago, his ancestors had been notorious and hated in these parts. Still, something told him that if he lied, Kanna would see through it. "My mother is from Whirlpool Village."
While Katar seemed puzzled, Kanna's eyes lit up in recognition of the name. Though instead of being reproachful, she seemed intrigued. "Ah, I suppose that would explain it." She seemed amused, as he visibly relaxed at her lack of hostility. "No need to worry Naruto, I've had the pleasure of meeting the people of your village. They put their past behind them a long time ago."
"Gran Gran, what do you two know? What is whirlpool Village?" Katara asked in confusion.
"It's a settlement where some of the remnants of the Fifth Nation settled Katara, after Avatar Kyoshi defeated them. They rejoined the Southern Water Tribe, but cause it was made up of people from three nations, our appearances were a lot more varied than the rest of the tribe." Naruto explained.
The Fifth Nation were an infamous band of pirates who had terrorized the seas during the time of Avatar Yangchen and Kuruk. Amongst the water tribe, they weren't thought of fondly at all. Far from being turned away, Katara seemed intrigued to learn he was descended from pirates. She proceeded to bombard him with questions, which Naruto answered with a bit of bemusement. Eventually, Kanna reined her granddaughter in.
"That's enough badgering the poor boy dear, he's had a long day. We should let him rest."
"Oh, of course." Katara said sheepishly, her cheeks reddening.
Naruto didn't mind though. "No problem. Though if you don't mind Gran Gran, could you tell me what's become of Whirlpool Village? I was hoping to visit it, that was my second reason for coming."
In the flickering fire light, Kanna seemed to age before his eyes. The youthful exuberance that made her seem young gave way to a weary look that told a stories of a life time of stress from constant threat, a story in every wrinkle in her soft skin.
"I'm afraid it was destroyed like many of our settlements, around ten years ago. The ones who remained had to join other villages. A few of the warriors left with Katara's father, but that's all I know. I'm sorry child."
"No, it's all right, I kind of figured something like that might have happened." Naruto sighed, stretching his arms over his head. He fought off the woozy head rush and shot a look at Kanna. "Well, that being the case, I'll try and leave tomorrow once Suno has had a chance to rest."
"What, no!" Katara protested.
"I don't have a choice Katara. If I wanna learn water bending, at this point I'll need to go to the North Pole. Besides, the longer I stay here, the bigger chance there is the Fire Nation vessel that saw me today will come here. If I'm gone, they don't have any reason to bother you."
Katara looked as if she wanted to protest, but her grandmother cut her off. "Katara, that's enough. The boy makes sense. We'll do everything to help him, but Naruto is right when he says it's best he moves on. For him, and for us."
The headstrong girl huffed, storming out without a word. Kanna shot Naruto apologetic look, before following after her granddaughter. Left alone with his thoughts and Kurama for company, Naruto crawled into his bed of furs, and settled in for a rough sleep. Not for the first time, he was plagued by images of a raging meteor, and an aged voice speaking to him.
'Naruto, you have a year to master all four elements. When the comet arrives, all will be lost.'
x-x-x-x-x-x- TNA -x-x-x-x-x-x
And that's chapter one in the books. I have chapter 4 up on the pa tre on right now. That's up through the end of the first two episodes of the cartoon timeline wise, including a chapter from Zuko's POV.
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