(A/N): Just a note for those who may have missed it. The ages of the characters are not always the same as they were in canon. In prior chapters, I mentioned Azula is seventeen in this story, like Naruto. So other characters might have different ages mentioned. Just a heads-up to ward off reviews "correcting" me. :-P

As the weeks went by, Naruto was becoming accustomed to his strange new life in the world he awoke to. Azula preferred to start her days training and end them on on a high note by gleefully plotting the defeat of her foes. Through the clever use of power, and a healthy dose of subterfuge, she could foresee the end of her obstacles.

Yue was rather the opposite. She enjoyed the quiet moments, the rhythm of the waves of the sea, talk of broader ideas she thought about and places she'd always wanted to visit in her previous human incarnation. She wasn't opposed to a concerted effort towards peace, but saw working within the margins of the current governments as preferable to Azula's strategy of cutting the heads off the biggest opposing snakes.

Enjoying a rare moment alone, Naruto muttered, "Two girls, twice the trouble." If he was lucky they'd get into another Water vs Fire spat resulting in the both of them being drenched in steam and having to be broken up. Currently, they were just training on the deck of Azula's massive warship as they neared their destination on the eastern coast of the Earth Kingdom, having gone West to circle the globe to reach it more quickly.

He watched Azula practicing her taijutsu on the deck, mixing in her Bending as was her preference. She weaved through several hand strikes and kicks, causing blasts of fire and arcs of flame to project from her extended limbs at various intervals. Despite its limitations, Naruto found these current arts impressive as a combination. In his time, he knew of no one besides Gaara and the Raikage who so seamlessly worked an element into their hand-to-hand combat.

These Benders thought themselves limited to one element, when in reality they merely found themselves using the element they had an affinity for. Once the obstructions in their chakra networks were removed, they had the potential to learn elements outside the one they had a natural disposition for. Some like Azula could were so skilled they already managed to move beyond their elemental affinity despite the interference. He still found it odd that she produced blue flames. When he asked, Azula said she didn't understand it herself, but it gave her a more powerful flame than other firebenders. Naruto suspected some kind of Kekkei Genkai was at play.

As Azula proceeded to swap to Lightning Release (Naruto offered her some insight into other possible uses of Lightning), he saw Yue doing her thing in a rather fitting blue bikini Ty Lee had insisted she wear. She was doing a small windmill motion with her arms, slowly spinning one and then the other, controlling the water around the ship to speed them to their destination even faster. She'd been focused lately, saying she'd been all but useless before she and Tui had merged. He understood her desire not to feel useless, it reminded him of Sakura a little. Of course, weird spirit magic helped.

Naruto knew he'd been staring too long when Yue turned and winked at him. He turned back to Azula, who was now practicing Wind Release, though hampered by the lack of a waterfall to practice it with. She could make a decent blast of wind, but she hadn't quite gotten down Wind chakra's ability to cut or tear things with ease.

"What is it about her that interests you, Naruto?" Yue asked. She seemed pleased at thinking she'd snuck up on him - she didn't, spirit or not she was no shinobi. "Despite what I told you when you slept in the box, you of all people wouldn't accept something or someone as unavoidable just because it was Foretold."

Naruto wasn't sure how to answer, nor what the answer was, so he remained silent to collect his thoughts.

"Is guess she reminds me of… well, of Sasuke," he concluded. From the incredulous look on Yue's face he knew he had to continue, saying, "Ok, I mean she's so driven, so confident, the best at what she does. She knows what she wants to do and has every advantage to help her get it."

"And?" Yue said, seeming to find his response funny.

"And, I dunno, I don't want to watch someone like that go down a path of no return to reach her goals," he said. "There's a fear in her eyes sometimes… someone in her life that could inspire her to do awful things by polluting that fire she's got inside so she doesn't disappoint them. Ozai I'm assuming. I can keep her on the right path."

Laughing softly, Yue asked, "And getting to look at that hot, fit body of hers is just the bonus, am I right?"

Naruto nearly fell over at this, complaining "Why do you do this to me? Why does a spirit even think like that?"

"You told me what your old teachers were like, don't pretend to be innocent of impure thoughts," she said, elbowing him lightly. "Besides, as a spirit I had no real gender or sexuality. Is anyone really going to complain that I can also fully appreciate how delectable my fellow women are?"

Naruto suddenly imagined Yue referring to herself as a 'Super Pervert' like his late master.

"You would have fantasies like that," Kurama spoke into his mind.

Entering his mindscape, Naruto saw that all nine Tailed Beasts were completely awake now. It was strange to see the design of his seal so different than before. Gone were sewers and even the empty space it later became. Now it was a vibrant meadow filled with tall grass and an assortment of flowers. The mountainous demons were arranged around the white circle on an empty part of the meadow that matched the white Yang mark on Naruto's palm outside his mind.

"Since Kurama finally contacted me I'm assuming all of you understand what's going on?" Naruto asked.

Despite their hatred for humans, Naruto could see the displeased looks on their faces at knowing how many people had died due to Madara.

"Naruto," Matatabi spoke. Naruto looked to the Two-Tailed Cat, her fur now a slowly flickering blue flame, who continued, "That girl you saw, the one using blue Fire Release…"

"Azula? What about her?"

"It took me a little while to be sure, but I'm positive she's descended from Yugito. A fragment of my power exists in her."

Naruto stumbled a little at that. "Woah, your last host had a kid?!"

Matatabi laughed and wistfully said, "Oh yes, the Raikage was incredibly angry when he found out. Boy did she get annoying though, bitched about something all the time before she gave birth."

"And here I was thinking it was a Kekkei Genkai. Man this is weird," Naruto said. "Do you want to meet her or something?"

The Two-Tails shook her head. "That might be too soon. But keep it in mind for the future."

"Speaking of which, she's talking to you," Kurama said. "Don't be having kids of your own too soon. I've already had hosts doing that shit twice before, I need to prepare myself mentally before I'm ready again…"

"The helmsman announced we are thirty minutes from our destination," Azula said, bringing Naruto back to reality. Sweaty and slightly out of breath as she was in her slim workout attire, Naruto found her state to be evoking much less innocent thoughts in his mind, so he tried to steer his train of thought away.

"So what's the plan for when we get there again?" he asked, having genuinely forgotten what they were doing.

"One of our Earth Kingdom spies reported seeing the sky bison owned by the Avatar here. All by its lonesome, in fact."

Squinting at her suspiciously, Naruto asked, "Are we holding some poor animal hostage to force this kid to come to us?"

"If only such a simple plan were useful at this point," Azula said smugly, reminding him of Sasuke even more. "No, the bison's use is in keeping the Avatar's attention from straying. He seeks the Earth King's assistance in the war, meaning he will be in the city of Ba Sing Se for the time being."

Understanding her, Naruto said, "So we capture the city and the biggest threat all in one go."

Nodding and displaying great confidence, Azula said, "And knowing my brother and his obsession with the Avatar, he won't be far behind. Whether he joins us or not matters little, but my Uncle Iroh must be captured."

"I suppose the matter of staging a coup of the Earth King and besting his forces is the easy part?" Yue said sarcastically. "Naruto would manage it easy enough but you seem reluctant to make use of him as heavily as you could."

"Indeed, it's almost as if I have formal training in military tactics and espionage, and have considered these plans for a few years," Azula said with equal sarcasm, receiving a glare for her efforts. "The key to this is taking control of Ba Sing Se's secret police force, the Dai Li. They have unrestrained access to the city, can act with near impunity and are rumored to be merciless and defer to those with power. Take them out of enemy hands and the city is all but in our own.

"This plan sucks," Naruto said glumly.

Quizzically, Azula asked, "How so? It's all mapped out and I've several contingencies if some part doesn't pan out."

"Exactly, there's too much stuff to remember."

"What would you have us do?"

"...Bust through the walls and challenge everyone to a fight. I would win and look extremely cool doing it," Naruto said seriously.

Turning back to Yue, Azula said, "That's partly why I'm keeping him back right now. This requires more subtlety than winning a fight if I'm to parlay it into establishing peace."

Yue could not disagree on this point. "Even still, how are we to control these Dai Li? Even with the Transformation Technique we'd be hard pressed to waltz into the city and find everything we need without looking out of place. If they're as skilled and sharp as you say, they'll be on the lookout for spies."

Smiling wickedly, she answered, "Oh that will come courtesy of my father. Let's just say the Earth King's forces will be rather distracted."

Yue had to hand it to Azula (though she'd never admit it), but as far as distractions went, this was unmatched.

A giant drill was approaching the outermost wall. Giant didn't truly capture it, it was more than a mile in length and stood several dozen meters tall. It was making its way towards the enormously tall outer wall of Ba Sing Se, the drill section of the machine was beginning its startup sequence, its rotation speed picking up.

"Azula", Ty Lee said. "Do we really have to wear these awful green kimonos? They don't show off my nice figure or anything…"

Mai, who was still staring at the getup, added on, "I hate to agree with her, but the longer I have to wear this ancient crap the more likely I am to stab someone."

"Girls, can the bitching before I get royally pissed," Azula said brusquely, not succumbing to her tendency to join her friends in complaining about their upcoming mission. Yue wasn't surprised. The man the Fire Lord had chosen to run the drill operation, War Minister Qin, not only lacked a spine but was overly assured of his competency and intellect, and he made sure everyone knew it.

Azula sat on the ground in a meditative position Naruto had shown her, and Yue could feel her working on improving her spiritual energy as she focused her mind onto whatever she had chosen (or someone, Yue suspected). Yue was distracted when she felt the presence of someone she'd feared running into again. Despite knowing it wouldn't do her any good, she sat beside Azula and pretended to meditate. In reality, she invisibly projected her spirit form out of her new body. She phased through the walls of the drill and made her way into the air, flying in the direction she felt the nostalgic presence.

Atop the seemingly impregnable wall, she spotted him, looking much the same as he had the last time she'd seen him. As she drew closer, she could see the little details she recalled. His traditional Southern Water Tribe hairstyle, his strangely reliable boomerang. Although she'd tuned out what was being said, she was certain he was making one of his silly jokes.

"Sokka..." she whispered quietly, instinctively. Not considering who else was in his group, the young fourteen-year old Avatar turned towards her direction, so she quickly panicked and returned to her body in an instant.

"Having fun, Moony?" Azula asked when Yue returned, breathing a little heavier. "Meditation isn't supposed to induce such stress... or dare I say pleasure?"

"Shut… your face," Yue huffed, not desiring to elaborate. She didn't like the slight upturn of Azula's eyebrow.

A burly pair of engineers in masks ran into the control room and frantically informed War Minister Qin that schematics of the drill had been taken and at least one of the braces holding up machine had been cut clean through. Sabotage.

"Princess, I-" QIn began.

"Quiet," Azula commanded, severely glaring. Outwardly relishing the look of fear on the minister's face, she looked at Yue and the two nodded. Yue raised a hand to her head and sent a telepathic message to Naruto.

"Let's go, ladies!" Azula said once Yue finished.

Aang had been having a strange day. First an enormous drill stops him from proceeding to find Appa in Ba Sing Se. Then he thought he saw Yue's spirit on the outer wall, but it vanished the moment he fully turned around. And finally, after he escaped Azula and her friends again, a tall boy with spiky yellow hair and odd facial markings interrupted his attempt to cut into the metal hull of the drill.

There should be a limit on the Avatar Weirdness Meter™.

"So you're this Avatar guy," the boy said, looking him over briefly. "Azula told me a little about you, but I thought she was pulling my leg about the tattoo. Body length? Man, that's some religious dedication."

Aang entered a standard airbending stance, hands outstretched flatly in the defensive manner favored in airbending.

"Who are you?" Aang demanded. "If Azula thinks sending someone with weird hair will win the day for the Fire Nation, she has another thing coming."

"Threats from an Airbender?" the blonde snorted. "Cute, but don't make threats you can't back up, especially to someone not here to attack you."

"If you work for Azula then you're an enemy to peace and to me," Aang countered. "It's my destiny to defeat the Fire Lord and bring peace to the world. You won't stop me."

"Destiny you say? It's a stupid concept, kid. An idea people make up to make sense of things they don't understand or justify things that want to happen. So they imagine there's a set course of things, ways things have to happen." He stopped to laugh again, before continuing, "Life has a habit of throwing little kinks into the cogs. A little chance into the machine. If only it were as simple as following some preset path or prophecy that was guaranteed. It's lazy, wishful thinking."

"Not here for philosophy," Aang said, completely ignoring the strangers words. He didn't expect the response, however. Faster than he could perceive, the boy was suddenly behind him, standing in between Aang and the outer wall.

"You're making a mistake," he said.

After jumping far away, Aang replied, "The only mistake I made is letting you talk so much!" Aang fired a blast of air at the yellow-haired boy. Rather than move, he allowed himself to be hit. And nothing happened, save for the movement of his clothes and spiky hair.

"Nice breeze, but if you intend to strike your enemy a half-assed attack like that will just embolden them take advantage. If you're gonna fight, fight like you mean it!"

Growing annoyed, Aang drew in a boulder that the earthbenders on top of the wall were throwing down a the drill and redirected it at his foe. Again, the boy did little in response, simply raised his hand and caught it effortlessly, not for a second looking away from Aang.

"You're an Earthbender?!" Aang said in shock. "Why would you work for someone evil like Azula? She's trying to take over your home country right now."

"I was born in the Land of Fire, it's the place I'm loyal to. Azula knows what she's doing, her goal is peace. I'm here to make sure she does it the right way."

Realizing he wouldn't see reason, Aang whipped the small amount of water at the boy, and the two began a dance of the elements. The boy forced them into close range combat, so Aang quickly switched to the evasive style airbending was suited to. He had to make extensive use of manipulating the air currents, as the force behind the punches and kicks aimed at him was unnaturally powerful, requiring precise airbending to diffuse and redirect them.

"Just who is this guy?" Aang thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Katara was bending the waste water from the wall debris, forcing it back into the drill to build up the pressure within so Aang could deliver the final blow.

"Uhg, I'm kinda bored just floating in here ya know," said a girl's voice.

Oh, right. It also had the benefit of keeping that floozy circus weirdo from blocking her Chi again.

"Deal with it. Aang is putting a stop to this ridiculous drill. Azula and the Fire Nation will never take Ba Sing Se," Katara said defiantly.

"Pfft, as if you have any idea what Azula is up to," Ty Lee said, rolling her eyes. "I barely know and I'm her hot best friend."

Sokka, who didn't want to draw attention to himself in this one instance, said, "Giant drill, get to Ba Sing Se, end the war. Her plan is pretty obvious."

"Oooh, the cute ponytail guy. We should hook up sometime," Ty Lee said, leaving Sokka embarrassed. She made a quick kissy face at Sokka. "Trust me, Azula's plan is going to work. She's trying to impress this reeeeally hot guy, so she's working extra hard so they can keep going at it badger-rabbits. She always wins if she really wants it. Hmm… maybe if Naruto and I bump uglies I'll come down all devious and smart too?"

Before anyone else could respond, a flash of light occurred in midair, revealing a floating, robed figure whose face was covered by a dark red cloak. Her gaze seemed to linger in Sokka's direction before turning to Ty Lee.

"Ty Lee, we're done here. It's time to go," the figure said. The feminine voice seemed familiar but distorted in a way that Katara couldn't place it.

The figure raised its hands, one towards Katara and another to Ty Lee. Horrifyingly, Katara could feel her Bending leaving her, the water refusing to obey the direction of her Chi. At the same time, Ty Lee was levitated out of the confines of the sludge she was entrapped in.

"Weeeee!" shouted Ty Lee as she floated in midair. "People call me an airhead and look at me now!"

The two disappeared in another flash of light. Mercifully, Katara felt her Bending return to her. Feeling a second wind coming on, she pushed the water back into the drill forcefully.

"Need a hand there?" Toph, apparently having given up interfering with the drill. As the wastewater had abundant amounts of rock and mud, Toph helped her propel the water even more intensely. The drill was nearly bursting at the seams, or rivets in this case.

"Twinkle Toes needs to get at move on," grunted Toph. "We can't hold this all day."

Despite agreeing, Katara was puzzled by the figure who interrupted her. What was she? How had she blocked her Bending like that? Even Ty Lee had to make physical contact to block her Chi. She seemed to fly even easier than Appa. And disappearing into thin air?

"It had to be a spirit, but why would a spirit help Azula?" she thought anxiously.

Airbending slices had no visible effect on this guy. Aang managed to blast him back toward the wall at one point, but he somehow just stood on the wall as if gravity was optional to him. He supposed it could be Earthbending but if it was it was a very subtle use.

Normally, Aang would have used the man's own attacks against him but he just wouldn't attack. In a strange turn of events, Aang found himself needing to be the aggressor in the fight. He could feel Katara and Toph's efforts beneath his feet. The drill was ready to blow.

"Do you even have a plan on what you're going to do once you defeat Ozai?" the blonde asked.

"Once I defeat him the world can restore itself to balance. That's my job," Aang said.

"So after a hundred years of bitter war, everyone will make just accept peace? You should know better than that, you've seen how things are."

Angrily, Aang said, "The Fire Nation started this war. It's continuing it, it has to be stopped. Why can't you see that?"

"How many people do you know that hate the Fire Nation? Or hate it's people and firebenders on the spot?" he asked.

Aang didn't know what game he was playing so he simply remained in his stance. In spite of himself, Sokka came to his mind.

"I'll take it you know plenty, then. Assume you ended the war tomorrow. Does this hatred just disappear because the war was declared over? Do you think the war started out of nowhere as well?"

"Are you really trying to justify them?" Aang shouted. "The Fire Nation attacked unprovoked. They're murderers, they killed all my people!"

This reaction garnered a smile from the boy. "That's a more honest reason. See? Even you are tainted by the hatred that would probably end whatever fragile peace defeating Ozai would create. If you can't acknowledge what you feel, you can't fix it. Now think about this: Most everyone else has similar feelings of vengeance and hatred about the Fire Nation, and people of the Fire Nation feel the same about everyone else. Do you truly think Ozai or Sozin are responsible for creating that or was it something they took advantage of?"

Frustrated, Aang said, "Y-you're just distracting me. It'll never work!" He sent a huge whirlwind at the boy who was actually blasted back into the wall by the large gale. While he was distracted, Aang created an airbending ball and quickly ascended up the wall near to the top. Upon reaching the apex of his ascent, he hopped off and ran down at high speed. He jumped off and slammed into the boulder he had placed at his cut point.

The effect was almost immediate. A defeating grinding sound could be heard from within the drill. A squelching sound on followed, as the wall sludge burst out of various gaps along the drill, including the head that had already penetrated the wall.

"This is just too much," Aang heard the boy say. Startled, Aang saw the guy standing beside him completely unharmed and looking at the wall covered in the goop. "I thought maybe it was a coincidence that the drill was so large but come on. Gooping up the walls and breaking in with a gigantic phallic machine? Ozai has either got to have a dirty sense of humor or he's majorly overcompensating."

"Haven't I beat you enough already?" Aang said, hoping to mask how tired he was.

The spiky haired boy laughed. Hard. "You didn't beat me. I wanted to talk to you and see if you were a better avenue than Azula."

Confused, Aang began to ask, "Wha-" before a fist suddenly slammed into his lower chest, putting him on the ground immediately. He'd never been hit so hard in his life. He couldn't think about anything else due to the incredible pain he was in. If any less than four ribs had been broken, he'd consider himself lucky.

"And I learned Azula was right. She told me you were uncompromisingly idealistic, but I had to see for myself," he said. "You're a boy in over his head. You started off removed from the cruel realities of the world and came back to being praised and having expectations of fixing everything thrust upon you because of what you were born as. I can empathize with that second one. But unless you can actually grow and think for yourself, I have to see you as just another obstacle to Azula."

Aang didn't catch everything he said, but he got the gist of it. "You'll… never win."

"We'll see," the boy said unimpressed. "The name's Naruto, by the way. Anyway, today's not your end so consider yourself lucky you're still needed. That time will run out and whether it's me or Azula, we will restrain you when the time comes."

A swirl of leaves suddenly appeared, obscuring Aang's vision. Naruto was gone.

"Seriously, no more weird stuff for at least two days," Aang said in exasperation.

Despite his attempt to play it off, Naruto's words pecked at the corners of his mind.

Though she knew it to be silly, Azula was pacing the room of their small, temporary dwelling in Ba Sing Se. The forged documents and Azula's application of the Transformation Technique had gotten them into the middle ring of the city while Naruto and Ty Lee had kept the Avatar's group busy. But Naruto still hadn't shown up yet.

"Don't worry Azula. Naruto is fine," Yue said.

A knock on the door interrupted her response, and in walked Naruto. Azula ran up and hugged him, receiving an awkward one-armed back pat in response.

"Told you I'd be fine," Naruto said teasingly.

"What took you so long?" Azula said, trying to sound uncaring despite her initial reaction. Showing the three-pronged kunai, she said, "You said if I kept this you could instantly reappear here after you were done. It's been two hours!" She tried to suppress her annoyance as Yue giggled at her in the background.

Naruto put his hands on her shoulders to still her. "I'm sorry about worrying you, but I think the benefit was worth the wait."

Her interest piqued, Azula asked, "And what would that be?"

"Heh, let's just say in my day I was trained by the best infiltration expert in the world. I secretly entered and scoped out this stupidly large city," he said, gesturing to a scroll he pulled out his pocket. "I found these Dai Li guys, noted some of their hidey-holes and patrol routes, where they meet their leader guy. That sort of thing."

Azula was near to kissing him for setting them up so well. She stayed her lips if only because saving it would make the kiss sweeter. Not that she'd stop at a kiss when the time came…

"Now all we need is to wait for Avatar and Uncle Iroh to reach the city and we can begin preparing our operations," Azula said happily.

Naruto's stomach grumbled loudly, breaking up the excitement. "Can we get some food? All this scheming is taking a toll on my brain."

"That's because you don't use it," Azula said matter-of-factly. "But you're right, it has been a trying day. Consider it a date."

Naruto sputtered a bit when Yue bumped him with her hips, saying, "Make that double."

(A/N): Ah, another chapter. I've been pleasantly surprised at the reception of this story. The numbers of reviews, favorites and views is rather large for so new and story. Keep it coming people!

So yes, I added Yue to the pairings so you can expect her later as well (hurray for NarutoxYue!), though you can see she's currently conflicted because of Sokka. Several have added me about doing a Harem, and my answer is… MAYBE! :-) If you want a harem, mention it in a review that you make. Just note this. It will not go beyond a few girls: Azula, Yue, Katara, Ty Lee and Toph. And as I said above, characters are older here. So Toph is fifteen, and so is Katara. So you can imagine they look a little older as well.

Thanks for reading! I'll try to make chapters a little longer from time to time as well.