Chapter 1: Lost Maelstrom
Welcome to a new chapter in the Drabbles! This is a crossover Isekai for Naruto and Avatar: The Last Airbender. In here, we will be seeing a change of events from Aang's trials as the Avatar in the Hundred Year War, brought about by the sudden introduction of the Hero of the Fourth Shinobi World War.
You want to read the specifics? Read the fic.
Honestly, not sure if this one will pick up and become a full fic. I am focusing most of my time to Dawn and Dusk, and Grand Ruler.
That's all for now.
I do not own Naruto or Avatar, that right belongs to Kishimoto, DiMartino and Nickelodeon.
It all began with a simple feeling of worry resonating inside Avatar Roku after he watched his successor, the Airbender Aang, freeze himself inside a gigantic iceberg, made worse when he witnessed his ex-friend's atrocious actions in leading a military strike that annihilated all four Air Temples. Until it finally accumulated after nearly a century of constant, unending war launched by the Fire Nation against the remaining two bending nations.
To that end, feeling the imminent return of his successor from his foolish icing, Avatar Roku sought help from a powerful spirit from a nearly forgotten world.
Hagoromo Otsutsuki.
Known to his world as the legendary and mythic Sage of Six Paths.
Somebody equal in stature and legend to that of the Avatar.
Roku's plan? To provide the immature Airbending Avatar with a Firebender teacher in a world where nearly all firebenders would rather attack Aang on sight in order to please the tyrannical Fire Lord than train the greatest enemy of the Fire Nation.
The candidate that he needed, needed to be strong, both physically and mentally, with an untarnished honor.
To that end, Hagoromo had the ideal candidate.
One that had brought about centuries of peace after defeating the mad would-be gods that Hagoromo was disappointed to call his kin.
"So, let me get this straight…" Naruto Uzumaki said as he stood in front of old man Sage and an equally old (if only in appearance) man with fire-themed robes, his arms crossed as he raised a golden brow. "You want me to ditch my hard-earned afterlife, where my family is, and go traipsing off to a completely new world to be some supposed savior's teacher?"
"That is correct Naruto-kun." Hagoromo nodded his head serenely to the Nanadaime Hokage of the Hidden Leaf and former carrier of his eldest creation, Kurama.
"Why does this Avatar kid need me to be his -what was it? Firebending?- teacher?" Naruto asked as he glanced over to the other old man. "From what you've told me, your world is teeming with people that can bend the elements."
"Because." Roku answered as he locked eyes with the slightly shorter man, his face gaining a tired look. "Currently, the Fire Nation is at war with the rest of the bending nations, and thanks to my former friend, Fire Lord Sozin, there is unlikely to be any Firebender that would be willing to teach Aang what he needs to know about Firebending and instead would try to kill him." His expression transformed into something angry and remorseful. "I'm also afraid that the Fire Sages that were meant to guide Aang to become a proper Avatar, have shed their honor and duty to remain neutral in the matters of nations and become corrupt, so I cannot rely on them."
"That's gotta suck…" Naruto said with sympathy, he well recalled the number of idiots he had to deal with that had become corrupted by politics during his time as Hokage, number one being that little shit Kawaki.
Looking towards the ground, Naruto fell into a contemplative silence as he grasped his chin and began thinking over the pros and cons of going through with this insane idea.
Sure, he trusted old man Sage, but he didn't really know this Avatar Roku, or the world the man came from at all.
Sighing, he glanced over his shoulder at the void behind him and the conceptual thought of his family currently residing in the Pure World. He didn't want to really admit it given how much he loved his parents, wife and daughter, but he'd been kind of getting, no, scratch that, really bored!
He was an Uzumaki! He hated sitting still and a life of nothing but peace and quiet in the afterlife had gotten boring and stifling after the first century following his death.
"Fine…" Naruto finally said with a sigh that Hagoromo easily saw through. "I'll do it." He then looked between the two old men. "How am I going to be getting to this world of yours?"
Hagoromo suddenly became sheepish, which surprised the Uzumaki, given that he'd never seen the Sage act so out of character.
"You do have a way for me to get there, right?" Naruto asked with slight annoyance as the two old men looked at each other.
"As it is not your original world…" Roku started, stroking his large beard to ease his nervousness. "You cannot be simply dropped in with a new body and simply go from there… we would have to place you in a completely new body, one both suited to being a bender and with the correct element. For example, we cannot place you in a Water Triber's body and have you suddenly been a firebender."
Naruto stared blankly at the man for a moment, before turning his gaze towards Hagoromo. "You aren't going to stick me in a corpse, are you?"
Hagoromo found that he couldn't meet Naruto's suspicious gaze and averted his eyes. "...I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. Unfortunately, it is one of the only options open to us besides placing you in the forming body of a yet-to-be-born infant. And as Aang will be returning to the world very soon, we would not be able to wait for you to grow up and mature."
"Fortunately, there are plenty of deceased individuals in the world right now…" The previous Avatar added darkly as he pinched his nose. "In all nations…"
"Fuck!" Naruto slapped his face with his hands and rubbed at his cheeks. "I'm going to be a fucking zombie-!"
"Not exactly." Hagoromo interrupted weakly. "While I am unable to fully manifest my powers into their world because of how foreign it is to chakra as we know it, I can exert enough power to restore the body you will be taking to proper life. It will just be devoid of the previous occupant's soul…"
"Let's just get this over with!" Naruto snapped tiredly as he held up his hand to prevent Hagoromo from continuing this frankly depressing conversation. He really didn't fancy the idea of running about in some dead guy's body and how close it'd probably feel to the Edo Tensei.
Damn. He was gonna be as bad as Orochimaru and Madara!
"As you wish." Roku nodded to Hagoromo before locking his gaze back on Naruto. "By my estimate, it should be close to five years before Aang should be freed from his current predicament-" Naruto snorted at that, remembering how the old Avatar had told him about his successor freezing himself solid inside a giant iceberg near the South Pole to escape a storm. This kid sounded like he wasn't all there in the head. "-Which should give you ample time to acclimate to my world and get in whatever practice you feel you need with your own firebending." Roku continued without pause. "We will be sending you to the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom's main city, Ba Sing Se, due to the unfortunately overwhelming abundance of dead to choose from, caused by the newest siege."
Naruto could tangibly feel the Spirit's depression at the amount of death that had been caused by his homeland.
"Are you ready, Naruto-kun?" Hagoromo asked, once again back to his usual monotone as he finished whatever it was that he'd been doing. When the last reincarnation of his youngest son nodded his head in assent, the ancient sage looked back towards the void. "Since your soul is foreign to your new body, you will be in a state of unconsciousness for a few days to better acclimate yourself to your new body. Good luck Naruto Uzumaki."
With nods of respect and thanks from the Sage and the Avatar, Naruto grasped Hagoromo's hand and disappeared in a flurry of golden lights.
-The Earth Kingdom; The Great Divide-
A man blinked his eyes open as he rose from the ground with a groan of discomfort and pain. Looking around, he tried to figure out where he was and what had happened to him that had led him to lay in this ditch.
He couldn't recall anything other than flashes of light and pain.
Frowning as a blank came to mind as he tried to recall anything, anything at all, the man stood shakily to his feet and glanced down at the red and black clothes he was adorned in after taking in his rocky surroundings. There were no identifying markers on the clothes that stirred his memory…
Where was he…?
Who was he…?
What was his name…?
Where was he from…?
What was he doing here…?
Why couldn't he remember anything…?
Running a hand through his hair, the man winced as his hand rubbed against a gash on the side of his head. Pulling his hand away from the wound and staring at the blood on his palm, he was quick to grab onto the bottom of his shirt and tear away a large strip of cloth from the garment before tying it around his head in a makeshift bandage bandana.
"There's another one!" A voice suddenly shouted from above him, prompting the man to look up with a startled jolt. There, standing on the ledge a few feet above him was a burly man in green and greener armor, his bearded face set in a scowl just before he and two others leapt down towards the befuddled man, large rocks floating above their hands.
The man yelped and dodged out of the way of the leader of his assailants, before being clipped by one of the others. Gasping for breath, he scrambled back, trying to speak up and defuse the situation, only for the men to be back on him in a moment's notice. "Wai-!"
Sent tumbling by a kick in the stomach, the man rolled across the ground and yelped as he grabbed hold of the edge of yet another ledge that he'd nearly flown over from the force of the blow.
"Die Fire Nation scum!" Came the utterly confusing words from his assailant's mouth that the man couldn't understand as he prepared to smash the man's fingers with a stomp of his bare feet.
What was the Fire Nation…?
Just as his admittedly very short life flashed before his eyes, the man bore witness to a blast of fire striking his assailant in the back as a woman similarly dressed to him, but armored, jumped over the ledge the others had initially come from. "Get away from him, you filthy Earthbenders!"
Holding on for dear life, the man could only watch transfixed as three men fought against the woman, one side throwing large rocks and manipulating the very ground to attack the newcomer, while the other side launched blast after blast of fire from her fists and feet.
Unfortunately for the dangling witness, he became a casualty of his own carelessness when one of the Earthbenders unintentionally stepped backwards and onto the man's hand as they dodged another gout of flames.
With a cry of pain for his crushed digits, the man unwillingly relinquished his grip on the ledge and plummeted to the ground. With a rushing of air, the unforgiving earth came up to greet the falling man and he once again blacked out as he impacted the dirt.
The four fighters paused in their fight as they stared in surprise at the ledge that had previously been occupied by the original trio's victim.
"Dammit!" The Firebender bit back a curse as she moved her gaze away from what had likely been the death of one of her comrades, a fellow survivor of the attack on the funeral convoy they'd been part of. She'd been hoping to save the man's life, but in the end, she was once again alone against three Earth Kingdom soldiers.
"Well that certainly happened…" The original attacker muttered in surprise before he looked towards his fellow soldier who had been the one to unintentionally send the Fire Muncher to his doom. "Chun! Is the fucker dead?"
"He's not moving, Captain Biha!" Chun answered back as he risked moving his eyes away from their opponent to look over the edge at the unmoving body some dozen feet below them. "I'd say he fell more than twenty feet, sir. I doubt he's getting back up."
"Whelp~." Captain Biha smirked as he locked his gaze back on their remaining enemy. "That's one down. What do you boys say about bagging another Fireeater before we get back to the unit?"
"Sounds good to me, sir!" Both of the men exclaimed viciously while their sole opponent paled drastically and took her own stance, prepared to at least make them work for it if she was going to die.
-Couple Hours later-
"Owwww…" The man groaned as he once again came to. Shifting onto his hands and feet, his hand rose to cup the side of his head as his body sorely protested his movements. "What the hell happened…?"
Almost immediately, the memories came flooding back in of the three armored men wielding rocks attacking him and a woman wielding fire trying to rescue him from his assailants.
The sky was dark now, and the moon hung high in the starry sky where previously the sun had been at its peak.
Steadying himself against the cliff he'd just fallen from, the man climbed to his feet and tried to figure out all that was happening.
Why had those men attacked him? They said something about a Fire Nation, was that where he was from? Why couldn't he remember anything?
Naruto…
The man blinked as a word passed through his mind in what sounded like a ghostly whisper. Like somebody was trying to talk to him.
Naruto…
"Naruto…?" The man asked himself as the word flashed with a sense of familiarity in his befuddled mind. "Is that my name?"
After a moment of staring out at the wide, empty canyon he was in, the man couldn't help but feel foolish when the voice didn't return.
It seemed that he wasn't going to be able to remember anything yet.
At least he had a name now.
Naruto…
"It sounds funny…" The man muttered to himself. "But at least it's something. Naruto it is then." He looked up towards the night sky. "Now where am I? And how do I get out of here?"
After a couple minutes of trying to figure out his situation, the man simply decided to begin walking away from the cliff in the direction of the dipping moon.
-Spirit World-
"Well that certainly happened…" Roku said as he watched the newly amnesiac Naruto walked deeper into the Great Divide.
Hagoromo couldn't agree more, still somewhat stunned by the poor luck Naruto possessed. Everything had been going fine, Hagoromo had placed Naruto's soul into the body he had chosen and after a few days of a comatose state, the Uzumaki had woken up.
That was when things went wrong.
The caravan that was carrying Naruto's new body along with the other deceased and injured soldiers of the Dragon of the West's failed siege back to the western coast to make the journey back to the Fire Nation for burial had been attacked by a large platoon of Earth Kingdom soldiers hoping to take the head of General Iroh for the pain he'd caused Ba Sing Se.
Just barely having woken up, the carriage carrying Naruto had been struck by a large boulder and Naruto had been launched out of it, tumbling over the cliff they'd been passing by and striking his head on a rock when he landed.
He lost his memory!
How was he supposed to find and help the Avatar now?! Not only could he not remember his purpose for being in Roku's world, but he couldn't even remember who he was beyond his name… which the Otsutsuki had an inkling that Naruto had only remembered because Hagoromo had been trying to call out to the wayward Uzumaki!
Hagoromo had already expended much of the energy he was able to utilize in that world and wouldn't be able to help the amnesiac man in his quest!
"We're just going to have to hope for the best…" Roku said in a defeated tone as he rubbed his temples.
"What if he never comes into contact with Aang?" Hagoromo asked as he looked back to his new acquaintance. "Or decides to follow the example of his fellow Firebenders?"
"You said it yourself that Naruto was an honorable and very morally upstanding individual." Roku shot back at the Sage. "I don't think he'd change all that much, even without his memories." The old Avatar then paused for a moment before rubbing his beard in thought and looking back to Hagoromo. "Perhaps instead of trying to force a connection with him and draining the remainder of your ability to intervene, you can use your power to send subtle nudges to him from time to time. Direct him as it were."
Hagoromo sighed at that. He'd most likely have to do as the Avatar suggested, it was a feasible idea…
And that's a wrap.
As I mentioned and you've probably gathered, this story is about Naruto being made into a Firebender by Avatar Roku's spirit and Hagoromo Otsutsuki to aid Aang in becoming a full-fledged Avatar. Now many of you are probably wondering; What about Zuko? Doesn't he become Aang's Firebending teacher.
Yes. Yes, he does.
However. Zuko doesn't do that until the Third Book after the invasion of the Fire Nation capital. Prior to that time, aside from Iroh, Shyu and Jeong, every Firebender to come across Aang tries to kill him for the Fire Lord. Especially Zuko. Roku and Hagoromo won't know about his change of heart until then.
As such, here comes the Hero of the Leaf to help the young, naïve Avatar learn and meet his destiny.
Of course, Naruto is now a Firebender, and as such won't be trusted by the Gaang until he proves otherwise.
For the next chapter, we'll be having it mostly centered on Naruto's journey around the Earth Kingdom until it is time to meet Aang.