The New Avatar:
Book 1: Water:
Chapter 5: The Airbending Master
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He found himself in a rather awkward situation. Perhaps he shouldn't have laughed so hard at the Water Tribe siblings' reaction to his revelation. How could he be blamed though? The second his eyes were revealed, Sokka had nearly leapt out of the saddle while simultaneously reaching for his club. Katara's quick thinking to grab the hem of his furs prevented him from plummeting into the icy water.
Sokka sat back down with a huff, keeping his gaze on Naruto as he gripped his club.
His sister was no better. Naruto was the target of her judgmental gaze, and in her eyes he stood guilty of everything the Fire Nation had done over the past hundred years. He'd seen the same look any time he traveled outside Huo Ying and someone noticed his eyes.
"You can relax, you know, it wasn't that long ago that I attacked a warship to rescue you. If I was on their side, I'd have just left you to rot." He said. Perhaps a bit harsh, but it was the truth, nonetheless.
The words did some good to settle Katara's nerves, though she kept a wary eye on him. Her jaw tensed and relaxed as she tried not to let her emotions rule her.
"You could be a spy, to sabotage any resistance." Sokka said/ Clearly, he was looking for any way he could support their argument.
Naruto gave him a flat look. Sokka wasn't nearly dumb enough to believe such a notion. Why would any spy bother to begin out here? For as much pride as they might have in their village, there was no strategic value in it. There were undoubtedly spies that the Fire Nation employed, but they would be found in the heart of the Earth Kingdom, not in a random corner of the world.
"I promised you an explanation, so I'll give you one. After that, you can decide whether you wanna travel with me. Fair?"
By the look of them they didn't in fact think that was 'fair'; in their eyes an explanation was the least he owed them. Katara was the first to budge.
"How does a Fire Nation citizen even end up as an airbender?"
"Actually, I'm only half Fire Nation. Dad was a firebender, he met mom after she escaped prison. The two hit it off so he decided to marry her instead of turning her in." He said.
He might have seemed overly flippant, but that was the humorous way his father had described it when he was young. His family had been on a picnic, and Naruto had innocently asked why his mother bent water instead of fire. Back then he didn't understand the political complexities of why his parent's relationship was dangerous. All he knew was that they were in love. His mother had blushed when his father told the story and acted upset, though she'd still given a smile only Minato could get out of her.
"Was?"
He was rather rudely jarred from his happy memories by Sokka. To many others the question might have seemed insensitive, but Naruto paid it no mind. During his airbending training he'd come to accept the fact of life and death. Besides, his father wouldn't appreciate it if he sat around moping.
"Yeah. He died in an ambush while protecting a supply caravan when I was nine."
The siblings were torn between sympathy and stubborn suspicion. Though Katara's gaze softened just the slightest bit. It was said that the eyes were the windows to the soul. If that was true, he could see the loss Katara had suffered as clear as if he was peering through a freshly polished window in one of those fancy Earth Kingdom mansions.
Her sympathy only barely curbed Katara's weariness. "You're Fire Nation though, why would you want to defeat them?" Sha asked.
Why indeed. From their perspective it must seem strange. The concept of fighting your own people was foreign to a civilization like the Water Tribe who had endured a century of invasion. To them, community and sticking together was imperative. They didn't understand the ways of the Earth Kingdom, especially the colonies. Even before the Fire Nation had begun to encroach, the Earth Kingdom had been a divisive political battlefield of backstabbing and power plays for centuries, since before the time of Kyoshi.
Once upon a time the Fire Nation had been the same according to his grandmother.
Amidst that mire of political intrigue, the colonies had their own special place. Especially the older ones. They'd been afforded a century of what amounted to self-rule as the Fire Nation focused on other conquests. As a result, a fiercely independent and insular attitude had grown. A sense community that transcended nations. They were a true melting pot where people could find refuge from the war.
"The Colonies might be part of the Fire Nation, but we rule ourselves. Fire Nation and Earth Nation side by side. I want the world to be like that." He said. "For that to happen, the Fire Nation has to be stopped. Besides … it's the Avatar's duty to maintain balance."
Try as they may, neither sibling could argue his point. Left unsaid was the implication. He was the Avatar, the only one they had. Unless they wanted to try and wait another fifteen years or so, there was no option but to work with him. Not that Naruto would ever vocalize that.
"So, what's it gonna be? Should we turn around?"
A minute passed with him waiting for their answer. Naruto would be lying if he said he didn't worry about it. At first there had been no plans to have companions. He had resigned himself to traveling on his own due to his heritage and the desire to keep others from being hurt. But now that he'd had a taste of having friends with him … he was reluctant to let it go. Finally, after much silent communication between the siblings, Katara answered.
"We'll travel with you."
His spirits soared, and Naruto allowed himself an excited grin. "Well then, hold on!"
He snapped the reins, causing Suno to surge forward. Sokka let out a yelp as the bison doubled his speed. There was nothing quite like riding a flying bison. To see the frigid seas zoom past, catching only glimpses of ocean life before the scene was snatched away, and have the wind ruffling through your hair? No feeling equaled it save for flying with a glider.
They floated peacefully, until the sun had long since dipped below the waves and the chill of night set in. Sokka's snoring seemed particularly loud amidst the silence. Katara also slept, though far more gracefully than her brother.
He couldn't help but steal glances at her adorable face poking out from her blankets. Prior to his little reveal, it had felt like there was a budding connection there. Though perhaps it had been his imagination.
Eventually the exhaustion of being up for nearly a day began to catch up to him. Naruto tried to stifle a yawn. His lids felt leaden, it was nearly impossible to keep them open.
"Do you want to take a break?"
He blinked tiredly, surprised to find that Katara was wide awake and had snuck up on him. His stomach did a flip as he realized her earlier hostility was mostly gone.
"I'd like to, but I'm the only one that knows where we're going."
Katara was not one to simply accept being told she couldn't do something, he was quickly learning. She scoffed and nudged him aside, taking the reins from him.
"It can't be that hard. Just show me the map. Assuming you have one." She said.
He could have resisted. Letting an amateur take the reins of a flying bison could go very wrong. But Suno was a very reliable boy, and frankly he admired her determination. Perhaps he could use this to dispel some of the awkwardness. The fact that letting her take control would allow him a chance to admire her from behind, certainly didn't play into it. Not at all.
"Alright," He conceded, reaching into the folds of his orange tunic. His hand came back out clutching a rolled up map and a compass. Naruto crouched next to her, unfolding the map and placing it on her lap along with the compass."We're here, and we are heading here, five degrees diagonally to the North-West from Wolf Cove." He said, drawing a line with his finger from her home village to the Southern Air Temple.
She eyed the map, squinting to read it in the watery moonlight. Her deep blue eyes widened as she read the name.
"The Southern Air Temple? Why would we go there?"
Naruto chuckled as he settled down, nudging Kurama aside to claim his fur blanket. The fox grumbled, but complied. "There's someone I need to see there before we go further. I think you'll like meeting him."
He could tell she was bursting at the seams to ask who, but Katara let it be, allowing him to settle in to take his rest.
"I'll only need a good four to six hours, wake me when you need a break." He told her.
The water tribe girl nodded. Sighing contently, Naruto rested his head on a bundled up coat. Kurama was quick to burrow into his blanket, his body heat helping to keep the chill away. He sighed contently. As he drifted off, Katara's faint voice drifted over, chasing him into his dreams.
"Good Night."
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It turned out that he got the six hours of sleep he was looking for. Katara woke him an hour or so before dawn to switch off. She had managed to fly throughout the night with no issues. He took back the reins and guided Suno along. Occasionally, he would check the compass and map to make sure they were on the right track. Katara tiredly went back to her blankets to get what rest she could.
There was something calming about being over the open ocean, only the sound of the waves to pierce the silence and the sky empty overhead.
Night gave way to morning as the sun rose to his left, golden rays poured across the water. In the distance, he spotted a speck of gray and white.
The speck grew steadily larger, revealing a tall mountain jutting from the sea. High atop the mountain lay a sprawling temple. Snow covered the Southern Air Temple, covering up the jutting towers and making them blend in even more with the sloped mountains piercing the sky like giant figures. It wouldn't clear for a couple more months. His spirits rose as Naruto shouted to his companions.
"Hey, we're almost there!"
A grumble came from Sokka, who was none-too-pleased to be woken up so suddenly.
"Whoopty doo, big fancy temple." He said, earning himself a slap upside the back of the head from his sister.
Katara was like a stern polar bear dog, the way she had Sokka cowed with a mere look. "This is a sacred place Sokka, show some respect!"
Properly chastised, Sokka mumbled out an apology. He busied himself with his boomerang in the hopes that it would take his sister's attention off himself. Naruto hid an amused grin, lest he find himself in Katara's crosshairs. She was a lot like his mother in that regard. Normally kind and peaceful, but with a core of iron and a temper that wasn't to be trifled with.
The water tribe girl smiled at him, joining Naruto at the seat of the saddle. Somehow her hair was already in immaculate condition despite a night of being whipped by the wind and several hours of sleeping.
"This is the Southern Air Temple. Amazing." She commented. The temple grew ever closer, and as it did they could make out its snow-covered grounds better by the second. Katara frowned, and continued hesitantly. "What's it like?"
In other words, what was it like after the massacre one hundred years ago? That was what she meant to ask, the girl was just too polite to do it outright. He had spent a great deal of time here in the past near decade. Walked the lovingly restored and maintained halls, meditated in the cavernous halls devoted to spirituality. Only accompanied by one person, his master. So only one word came to mind to describe the temples.
"Empty." His hollow words left a sour note in the air. Never one to let such a heavy feeling rest, Naruto let out a raucous chuckle. "Course, my wives and I will change that! There'll be plenty of new Airbenders running around in a few years."
Katara sputtered indignantly, "You're married?" She asked in surprise, before something more important occurred to her. "Wives, as in multiple?"
"Not married yet, but I'm working on it." He shot her a sly gaze and waggled his eyebrows. "But yeah, I'm gonna have several wives. After all, new Air Nomads won't just pop up on their own. I've read all the texts on the art of pleasure from monks who devoted their lives to it, quite extensively."
With every word from his mouth, his companion's face got progressively redder, until finally she could take it no more. She managed to stutter out an excuse about checking the packs before quickly leaving. He patted himself on the back for a job well done. One should never linger overly long on things they couldn't control, especially when they were a bummer. He turned his gaze back to the temple and tried to contain his excitement.
This would be his first chance to meet his master in a month. The temple had been deserted when he passed through on his way to the South Pole, though he hoped that the old man would be there this time around. He never went too long away from the temples, though he always kept what he did when he wasn't there private.
As they flew over the airball court–an exhilarating game played on a field of wooden pillars hammered into the ground, the goal being to put the hollow ball through a hoop at the end of the court–he spotted something that made his spirits soar.
An old man in red and orange robes that nobody had seen for a century. A faded arrow on the old man's shaved head revealed what he was, something long thought dead. A master airbender.
His master was in the midst of meditation, but his eyes snapped open even before they landed, as if supernatural senses had warned him of their approach.
A smile broke out across Naruto's face. His master's robes were like a splash of vibrant paint on the snow, making him stand out. Kind gray eyes peered out under a brow wrinkled from age. Pale lips cracked a gentle smile amidst a beard as white as snow that fell to the old man's chest.
Suno landed with an exhausted groan. Naruto was about to greet his master, but he caught a familiar troublemaking twitch in the old man's angular face, just as the sticky filling of a fruit pie splatter down on his head. Cherry, based on the bit that got in his mouth in the midst of his sputtering.
For a moment, he stared at his master in deadpan disbelief. The old fart was barely restraining his laughter.
"Oh it's on, old timer!"
A wave of his hand saw a violent torrent of wind and snow form a crude snow man around his mentor. Naruto's revenge art lasted a mere second before his master decided to stop humoring him. The elderly air bender barely had to twitch to send the snow flying away to form two picturesque snowmen. To use the air to sculpt snow … few understood the intricate control it took. Cheeky old bastard showing off.
"You're a century too early to out prank me, my young pupil." His master said, a rich, soft voice, preserved from years of peaceful meditation.
The most annoying part was that the old man was right. His master always had a mischievous spirit, Naruto had yet to catch him off guard with a prank. It was like his master had the senses of a cat when it came to that kind of thing.
Naruto squinted, using all his focus to blast the fruit filling and crumbling crust away. Such a feat of precise control was tremendously difficult for him.
"Now, remember your manners, introduce me to these delightful looking young Water Tribes people."
The siblings were too busy gaping in awe to respond to being mentioned. With a slight bit of amusement, Naruto grabbed them around the waist, leaping from the saddle to land gently in the snow a few feet from his master.
"Katara, Sokka, I'd like you to meet my airbending master, the most powerful airbender ever, Monk Aang."
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– Huo Ying, 92 AG, Year of the Rat –
He couldn't believe his eyes. The massive, fuzzy creature before him was one he'd heard stories about from his grandmother. A Sky Bison. The gentle giants that had carried the Air Nomads across the world before they began to plot to overthrow the Fire Nation.
"Old man Roku was telling the truth … I can't believe it."
When he'd first encountered the elderly firebender in his dreams, Naruto hadn't thought much of it. After all, he hadn't even been able to talk to him. Then the second time he appeared, the old man–Roku, as he introduced himself–had shown him a trick, making air spin in the palm of his hand. That night Naruto awakened to find his room a mess, ripped apart by violent whirlwinds.
That had been a pain to explain to his mother. His backside was still sore from the punishment.
The punishment had paled in comparison to his excitement. He could finally bend. As all the kids began to bend earth and fire around him, he had feared perhaps he just wasn't a bender. Even the water seemed to elude him, so he hadn't inherited his mother's skill. Now those worries were dispelled, and he was an air bender to boot!
As young as he was Naruto didn't understand the political intricacies of such a thing.
His only problem was that he couldn't control his powers at all. Every time he tried the air went out of control, tearing up trees out of the ground and ruining the forest. Not even meditation worked. He figured since the Air Nomads were known for it, perhaps that would do the trick. Then, Roku appeared for the first time while he was awake, and this time he told Naruto that the next morning he would meet a sky bison, and he should go with it.
His hand trembled as he reached a hand towards the creature's snout. Would it bite it off?
Big brown eyes stared down at him, blinking slowly. There was white around the bison's mouth, perhaps a sign of age? The bison snorted, and Naruto found himself on the receiving end of a full body lick from its gargantuan tongue.
He giggled and patted the creature's head to get it to calm. Naruto bit his lip and stared up at the saddle on the bison's back.
So far Roku hadn't steered him wrong. He would trust his word that this bison would take him to someone who could help. A note had been left for his mother and grandmother, hopefully they wouldn't be too worried.
With a nervous flutter in his stomach, Naruto climbed the bison's side to tumble into the saddle. The world lurched and he found himself pressed against the saddle as the bison took off. For better or worse he was off.
Many hours passed. Eventually he worked up the nerve to sit at the edge of the saddle and watch as they passed over the ocean. He had never felt as amazing as he did with the wind in his hair and a wide view of the endless seas.
Just as his stomach began to growl in hunger, it appeared. He'd never seen anything like the towering pagoda's that pierced the sky, imitating the steeply sloped mountains. There was no easy way for anyone to reach the pristine white buildings. Surely, this was one of the four Air Temples.
They landed in an open field, and the bison immediately took to grazing.
He looked around uncertainly.
"Hey, are you sure this is where we're supposed to go buddy?" The bison grunted and continued grazing.
Naruto pouted. He would just have to figure things out on his own. Trying to stand up in the saddle was shaky at best. The bison constantly wobbled under his feet. Eventually he managed to crawl down.
"Sorry about Appa. A day's flight works up quite the appetite when you have five stomachs." An embarrassing yelp escaped Naruto. Caught in the midst of dusting himself off, someone had managed to sneak up on him. He turned to find himself locking gazes with an elderly monk. The man's gray eyes shone mischievously.
There was no mistaking that arrow tattoo on his head. An airbender, a real live airbender.
"Hello Naruto. I am Monk Aang, it is a pleasure to meet you."
Little did he know it at the time, but that single meeting changed the course of his life. Over the next decade he would learn the truth of the massacre of his grandmother's people, and the desperate power plays of the Fire Nation.
More importantly he learned of his place in it. He was the lynchpin that was meant to balance the nations. The Avatar had to mediate political issues, and when necessary, have the wisdom of when to put his foot down.
Of course, it wasn't all serious. He also learned the joy of being one with the wind and how to make traditional fruit pies. When he thought back on what could have happened if he wasn't the Avatar … merely living life as a cog in the machine of the Fire Nation, it was undoubtedly the best thing that ever happened to him.
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What do you think? Did anyone guess that Naruto's master would be Aang? I couldn't just kill Aang off even if he wasn't the Avatar, I love him too much as a character. So instead, he will have more of a Gyatso role to Naruto.
Originally, I'd planned to have Aang explain the fall of the Air Nomads, but I want that to be in Katara's POV and it just wouldn't have fit in this chapter.
As always I want to give a massive shoutout to my patrons. If you'd like to read ahead, Chapter 9 is up on my pa tre on and some new perks have been added to two of the tiers, one of them will come into play on the 15th.
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Until Next Time,
RinneTaicho, Signing Off!