Naruto and friends are around 18 years old.

Gai's team is 19 years old.

Toph is around 17 years old. I'm making her younger than the others because she is reluctant to grow up anyway.

Jounin Senseis are late 20s and early thirties.

Other background information: I choose to explain in my story, so read and find out.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Avatar the Last Airbender.

All reviews welcome!!

Glossary at the end.

Chapter One: No Way…

This wouldn't have happened if she could see.

Sure being able to 'see', using the vibrations that the earth provides, is great. So perfect in fact, that Toph still can't understand how she tripped.

She took a walk away from her friends, confident in her ability to use earth bending to 'see' where she was going and if anyone might suddenly attack her. It would have been impossible to have tripped over a stupid rock or tree root because she would have seen it. Anything that gave off the slightest vibration could be perceived by Toph, because of her connection to the Earth. Instead, as she was walking, it felt as though the ground beneath her simply disappeared from underneath her. A moment later, she felt her face hit the dirt.

She placed her hands on the ground, ready to push herself up, and immediately noticed that something was different.

The earth felt different.

She couldn't exactly put her hands on the sudden change, she just knew. Like the way a newborn suddenly realized it wasn't in the arms of its mother. Something was wrong.

She immediately concentrated on the ground, searching for the familiar vibrations that significantly belonged to her friends.

'Where are you Twinkle-Toes (1)?' She thought as she searched for the familiar vibrations of Aang, a boy who was light on his feet. Or maybe even Katara, a graceful girl probably walking around the campsite, preparing the supplies for the next trip. Sokka was leaning against the tree, sharpening his weapons, when she left him. Or maybe even the heavy breathing of Appa, the flying bison. But she didn't feel any of those familiar vibrations.

Instead she noticed that there were three people distinctly different from her friends, some ways away to her right. They were light on their feet as well, but as far as she was concerned, Aang was the only air bender left.

It felt as though two of them were fighting, the vibrations relaying to her their heavy breathing and quick heartbeats, probably from the adrenaline. The third seemed nervous as he or she watched the fight, some distance from the other two. The person kept repeatedly shifting from one foot to another, worried about the two in combat, but opted not to do a thing about it, as he or she continued to watch the fight.

They were the only people nearby. She couldn't locate her friends in the vicinity. And even as she stretched her senses, she couldn't sense them anywhere. They couldn't have left without her, without her knowing. They were her friends, and they weren't the type of people to just leave her alone in the forest, they wouldn't even leave a fire bender, if he needed help, behind, even before the war had ended. If they could help it, they would help anyone, then and now. Besides, she would have known if that big fuzz ball (2) left the ground. He does push down before taking off, and she would have felt it.

Something weird was going on. Something she couldn't 'see'. Something happened and she didn't notice it. It was so frustrating to be reminded that she didn't know something simply because she couldn't see the conventional way.

'That's it. I'm going to get some answers.'

She hoped that maybe one of the three fighting was Aang, while Sokka and Katara were riding Appa in the air. But she knew that it was unlikely. Sokka and Katara weren't the type to run away. Katara was a water bender; she was fully capable of taking care of herself. Sokka isn't any kind of bender, but being the warrior that he claims to be, he would rather be caught dead than retreating while Aang fought alone. That and he's a pretty decent fighter, once in a while.

The war was long over, peace reigning supreme over the whole world once again, but there were still the random people who would try something. Even after five years everyone was still weakened from the war, having lost a lot after a hundred years, give or take a few. It would be a bigger surprise if no one tried anything to take advantage of the situation. This trip of theirs was a mixture of helping Aang keep the peace, as well as getting together and enjoying the good times, without having to worry about a war that had seemed almost impossible to win.

As she neared the clearing where the people were fighting, she could hear a clash of metal; and unless Aang was borrowing one of Sokka's weapons, those people weren't here friends.

"Tch, dobe. (3)"

"Shut up, teme (4)!"

The two fighting were men; the first sounded arrogant, and condescending. He sounded like he was winning too. The second sounded frustrated, but he also sounded happy. It was completely weird. He was insulted but he seemed to enjoy the interaction. He was excited from the fight, they both were. She could tell from their heartbeats, as it shook their bodies in the tiniest vibration and having it relayed through the ground and straight to her bare feet.

Then something completely unexpected happened.

"Kage Buushin no Jutsu (5)!" the weird man shouted.

And she was almost thrown off her feet from surprise, when she felt another five pairs of feet suddenly appear on the ground.

'What the hell? How is that possible?' She stopped walking closer, waiting somewhere far behind from where she deduced the kage buushins of the weird man stood, which may have been the biggest mistake she made all day, other than wandering away from her friends.

She heard the clinking of metal, before hearing a sudden poof.

"Shimatta (6)! Watch out!"

Before she could react, or even think about what was happening, she sensed someone running toward her, picking her up princess style, and carrying her away. A few seconds later, she heard the sound of metal embedding into the trunk of the tree that stood right behind her previous position.

"Hey, are you alright?"

It was a calmer voice that spoke to her this time. It was strong and deep. It didn't belong to the other person watching the fight. She had felt him coming from a different direction. She didn't even sense the man until he had scooped her away from the danger. Rather than being surprised at this man's speed, Toph was irritated. She wasn't a princess that needed rescuing. What's worse is that the man didn't seem like he was planning on putting Toph back down on the ground any time soon. It wasn't that she didn't like the warm breath near her ear, or the steady beating of his heart under the palm of her hand, or the firm hand that supported her lower back.

What she didn't like was that, while being held, with her feet off the ground, she really was blind. She couldn't see without her feet or any part of her body firmly connected to the ground, and she suddenly felt like the invalid that her family had seen her as, before she proved to them that she could be as strong as any person who could see. She was vulnerable, and being the fiercely independent person that she is, she turned that fear into annoyance.

"Can you put me down now?" She asked rather rudely, immediately forgetting that this man had just saved her life.

The man tensed, almost embarrassed for still holding onto to her, or maybe because he wasn't prepared for that kind of reaction. He almost nodded, forgetting that the lightness of her eyes didn't signify her as a Hyuuga, it marked her as sightless. Still he complied with her request.

Once Toph's bare feet touched the ground, she almost sighed in relief. She could 'see' again. Taking advantage of regaining her own unique ability to 'see', she used it to figure out who else was present. There were the two men who were fighting from before approaching them, her and her rescuer, as well as the person who was watching the fight. Judging from the person's footfalls, the observer was a woman. She was not only light on her feet; she was also very graceful, just like Katara and every other woman she had ever met. There were two others, another man and woman, both walking from the same direction in which her rescuer came.

"Oi! You alright?" shouted the weird man. His voice sounded obnoxious and hyper, even after his spar had probably ended in a tie.

He was definitely different.

While his companions walked at a slow pace toward her, the weird man jogged, and she got the strange impression that he was waving his arms like some crazy bird flapping its wings.

"Sure", she drawled, her sarcasm kicking in. "Considering I was almost impaled."

Old habits die hard.

She couldn't help it, all the feelings that she worked on changing, when she was with her friends, were all coming back to her. After all, she wasn't with her friends. She was surrounded by strangers, who, she could feel, already began to pity her condition.

She had been bitter and sarcastic when she had first met her friends as well, because their initial reactions were just like this. Except for Aang, he was too enthralled from her earth bending that he didn't think of her as blind, just different. For that she was grateful. She won't admit it, but that was the reason why she agreed to become his teacher, to travel with him, and to help him fight the fire nation. She wanted freedom too, but she found she appreciated it more with friends who didn't think that she was crippled. It didn't take long for her to be viewed as a capable earth bender in front of her friends. They'd almost forget that she was blind at all, considering the way they talk to her about events, and the way they walk with her, not worrying that she'll run into something. Sometimes there was the careless remark that reminds her that she is blind, but they always say sorry and move on to another topic, neither wanting to dwell on it.

She could feel the disapproving stare of her rescuer, and if her eyes worked like they were meant to, the first thing she would see was the frown of the man in front of her. The others seemed to feel the same way. They didn't like her attitude, but she didn't care. She never did. She wouldn't give these people a second thought once she found Aang and the others. At least that was what she thought until the weird man spoke up.

"Hehe, yea. Sorry about that." He sounded embarrassed, rather than offended by her sarcastic reply. For the second time today, this man was able to almost knock Toph off her feet. Like she would voluntarily take her feet off the ground, for Toph, it would have been similar to wanting to be blind. Obviously she didn't.

"What's your name?" She asked him.

There was a pause, almost as if the man didn't expect her to ask that kind of question.

She could feel the huge grin spreading on his face.

"The name is Uzumaki Naruto." He said his name proudly, even though she has never heard of him before or of his family. Coming from a high class family, she needed to know all kinds of important snobs. But this Naruto made her feel like she should know who he was, that he was important. He was definitely different.

"And you are?" came the calm voice of her rescuer. She had almost forgotten about him.

Almost.

"Well it would be more polite for everyone else to introduce themselves first, wouldn't it?" After a split second, Toph added, "Stiff stick. (7)"

She thought it was a fitting name for this faceless person. The way he planted his feet on the ground told Toph that he was standing erect, and the way he spoke to her with that calm voice, was so formal.

Even though the man made no impression that he was affected by the nickname, Toph knew otherwise. She didn't need to see him to know he already hated it. She could tell from the way he stood even straighter, if that was possible. The light shift probably went unseen by everyone else, but Toph didn't need to see it.

She could hear Naruto snickering.

"Hyuuga, Neji." He finally replied, after glaring at Naruto, his pale eyes watching the young woman before. She stood still, having no reaction to his name. But that wasn't what he was looking for.

After what seemed like forever, the others approached the three. But they stayed quiet, wondering if they should make their presence known to the blind woman before them, before introducing themselves.

"Well I did mean for all of you to introduce yourselves." She said annoyed because she knew what they were thinking. They thought that she couldn't see them, so she didn't know that they were there.

They were surprised but they quickly regained composure.

"My name is Haruno, Sakura." Said the girl, who had been observing Naruto's fight. Her voice was strong yet at the same time, very girly.

"Uchiha, Sasuke", proclaimed the very haughty voice that Naruto was fighting earlier. He said his name with pride as well, only he seemed more arrogant about it. He sounded a bit peeved that his fight ended so soon.

"I am Rock, Lee, the second greatest beast of Konoha", yelled a really enthusiastic, male voice. He didn't sound assertive like when Snoozles (8) was trying to tell her that he was the greatest warrior of the water tribe. He sounded like he really was what he claimed to be. Nevertheless he was still as goofy sounding as Sokka.

She could almost hear everyone else groan from his declaration.

"And my name is Ten Ten." Replied the last girl in the group. She sounded almost like Katara. Her voice was sweet and sugary. Toph was tempted to call her Sugar Queen (9), but decided against it. The name belonged to her first and only best friend. She couldn't give it away. But that didn't mean she couldn't make a modification.

"Fine. Call me Toph." She said.

"Nice to meet you Toph-chan." Was the immediate reply of Naruto. "And sorry again. I swear, if I knew you were behind me I wouldn't have dodged the shuriken."

She nodded thinking about the other ways he could have handled the projectiles. 'Are they benders?'

"How did you know that we were here too?" asked Sakura. She was confused. She recognized the lightness in Toph's eyes, the blank stare she had, and how her gaze looked as though she was looking through you.

Sure, she could have mistaken those eyes for those of a Hyuuga, but her pale green eyes didn't look like they were ever used; the way the girl's bangs attempted to cover them, the way she didn't move her gaze, or the way she didn't try and observe the people in front of her. She didn't need her medic skills to tell her that Toph was blind. But then how did she know that there were other people present? It couldn't be because Toph heard them approach. They were trained shinobi, silent and deadly.

She understood that Toph heard Sasuke-kun and Naruto while they were fighting, and then there was Neji who had saved her. She could have excused it that maybe Toph was only referring to Sasuke-kun to introduce himself, but she had said everyone. And she didn't seem surprised when she heard the others speak. She knew that they were there. This woman knew that there were others standing around her, and most likely, the young woman knew where each of them stood as well. It seemed far-fetched that a blind woman would be capable of this type of perception, but after years of training with Kakashi as her jounin sensei, she really did look underneath the underneath.

Toph smirked at the question. She had been anticipating that question; she wanted to show these people what she was made of. Even after all these years she was still proud to show off her abilities. Maybe she could be a little mysterious about it too.

"Because I can see." Her answer was short and concise, if not confusing. She wasn't trying to convince them; she just stated it, as though it was normal.

'I wonder if they'll actually fall for it.' She thought.

The earth bender had never tried to fool people into thinking that she could see with her eyes before, because everyone knew she was blind before she even said anything. She deduced it had something to do with her appearance. She vaguely wondered which of her features was the big tip-off.

"Honto (10)? And here I thought you were blind. Sorry again."

"She is blind, dobe." Sasuke said. He had no clue what this girl was doing in Konoha. She wasn't a kuinochi (11), for Konoha or any village, in fact. It would be pretty hard to fight without being able to see. But there was something off about her.

She was confident.

A trait he was willing to bet that not many people with the same handicap had. Though he would never admit it, Sasuke was intrigued with the woman before him.

Naruto growled.

"But," Ten Ten hesitated. She didn't know how to approach the woman before her without offending her. They all knew she was blind, with maybe the exception of Naruto, but they didn't know how she would react. Toph had a pretty rotten attitude, but she probably had it tough, like other people she knew. "You. . . I mean your-…"

"You don't use your eyes." Sasuke was irritated with the hesitation. He didn't care if he hurt the girl's feelings. He never did before, and right now it mattered even less when he was looking for answers.

Toph smirked. A blunt, brooding 'princess', Sasuke definitely reminded her of someone she knew. (12)

"Well I didn't say that I could see with my eyes. I use earth bending to feel the vibrations in the ground." She explained.

"Earth . . . bending?" Sakura let the unfamiliar word roll off her tongue.

"Yea, you know. Manipulating the earth?" She said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, but of course, Naruto ignored that condescending tone.

"Wow, you can do that?! Sugoi (13)! Demo (14), you call it earth bending?" Naruto looked thoughtful, pausing to signal to Toph that he really was thinking about what she had explained. "That's a strange name for a jutsu. What kind of kunoichi are you?"

"What? I'm not a kunoichi. I'm an earth bender. Would you like me to spell it out for you? Earrrr-th –beee-nd-eeerr", she drawled. "You act as if you've never heard of an earth bender before."

A short pause, and a feeling of cold dread hit her system, and she asked, "You do know about earth benders, right?"

Everyone looked around at the other, thinking someone must have encountered an earth bender at least once on a mission. Unfortunately, everyone drew up blanks. Was there such a thing as an Earth bender?

Naruto voiced their thoughts in the simplest reply. "Nope, first I've heard of one."

Toph panicked. She took a deep breath; she didn't want to lose her cool in front of strangers. "Well, that's . . . understandable. There are a few places that don't have earth benders, but at least you've know about the Avatar and the War that recently ended with the Fire Nation, right?"

She wanted them to agree with her, and put her fears to rest. Some people don't need to know about benders to know about the War that affected the whole world. Maybe they should, but Toph would criticize them once they agreed. They had to know about the war; it wasn't something that suddenly slipped their minds. There were very few people who weren't involved in the war, and even less that weren't affected by it.

Upon the mention of the war, everyone became tense, but for a different reason than that of Toph's.

"Do you mean the war that almost broke out among the hidden villages?" Ten Ten asked.

Everyone knew about the war that almost broke out, the one that the Akatsuki had been planning by capturing and extracting the demons from the Jinchuuriki (15). Of course they would know about the almost Fourth Shinobi War (16), since it hit a little close to home. Nevertheless, one Jinchuuriki in particular put a stop to those plans a few years ago. Supposedly, the woman was talking about a war that never happened.

The earth began to shake beneath her feet, as Toph refrained from stomping in frustration. For an Earth bender, stomping wasn't as simple as stamping her feet into the ground. If she did that, the ground within a two mile radius of her would have been completely crushed. But it was so frustrating. She was getting the reactions that she expected, tense and uncomfortable silence about a war where someone might have lost someone, but the problem was that they were talking about two different wars.

'How could they not know about the war with the Fire Nation? Those pyros had close to one hundred years to make an impression on just about anyone.' Thought Toph.

"Wait", she spoke aloud now, "What the hell do you mean by hidden villages? Where am I?"

"You are in Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Neji answered her question. She wasn't from around here. "Located in the Fire Country."

"You have got to be kidding me."

To be continued.

Please Review!!

Glossary:

Twinkle-Toes- Toph's nickname for Aang

fuzz ball- Toph's nickname for Appa

Dobe- Sasuke's nickname for Naruto

Teme- Naruto's nickname for Sasuke

Kage Buushin no Jutsu- Naruto's infamous shadow clone jutsu

Shimatta- I think it is Japanese for "shit" or "no way", something like that.

Stiff Stick- Toph's new nickname for Neji.

Snoozles- Toph's nickname for Sokka

Sugar Queen- Toph's nickname for Katara

Honto- Japanese for "really"

Kuinochi- female shinobi

The brooding princess- Toph is referring to Zuko

Sugoi- Japanese for "cool"

Demo- Japanese for "but"

Jinchuuriki- the name of a demon vessel

The fourth Shinobi War- I made this up because the last shinobi war was the third one, the one that Kakashi fought in.

Please Review!!

What to review about you wonder?

--Well suggestions on pairings would be great. I really don't know who to pair her up with or anyone else for that matter

--Nicknames for the other people she'll meet

--And anything else that deserves my attention.

Thanks! Ja Ne.