I'm back! Due to personal issues that i won't bore you with i've not written anything in over a year but i've started working on my writing again.

I started writing this story on the 21st of February as a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Avatar gracing our television sets. I hope you enjoy and please leave a review :)

Avatar & the Fire Guardian

Chapter I : Tales of the Past

Water, Earth, Fire, Air. Over the years many conflicts have arisen among the four nations, none so devastating as the Hundred Years War. Started by the Fire Lord Sozin and continued by his son Azulon and Grandson Ozai. The war was finally ended by Avatar Aang and his friends, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko and Suki. However, unknown by many, Avatar Aang had another friend. The Fire Guardian.

It has been years since the hundred year war ended, Avatar Aang passed from this world seventeen years ago and like the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of the Avatar began anew.

South Pole

White Lotus Compound

The new Avatar was a young woman named Korra, born into the southern water tribe she had a dark complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair tied into a high ponytail. Thanks to years of training she had a strong physique, visible muscles but not overly bulging.

Korra sighed as she laid back to look at the stars in her favorite corner the compound. The Fire Guardian Monument. The monument consisted of a raised stone circle with of four lit braziers surrounding a statue in the middle. The statue was a life size carving young man with spiky hair, across his forehead he wore a headband with a spiral symbol on the front, he wore a coat with flames decorating the bottom. He was stood in a strong fire bending stance with one fist drawn back and the other thrust forward. He had an intense look frozen on his face.

Within the walls of the compound Korra had no friends her own age, the only other people she saw and spoke to were her bending teachers and the White Lotus guards who watched her every move. Korra often found herself talking to the statue whenever she felt lonely.

The monument had been there for as long as the compound had existed. It was her favorite place and hid her most embarrassing secret. When ever she looked at the face of the statue she couldn't help but blush… she had a crush on a statue.

"So this is where you are," a familiar voice made Korra jump, she turned to see her water bending master approaching her. She had white hair and still sported her old hair style with hair loops. "You should be resting Korra, you have your fire bending test tomorrow."

"Sorry Master Katara," Korra sputtered trying to suppress her. "I just wanted to, umm."

Katara cast her eyes to the statue and gave a sad smile.

"I see… you were visiting Naruto," Katara said as she sat beside Korra. "I used to visit him often too, with Aang and my brother. I'm sad to say I haven't found the time lately."

"N-Naruto? He has a name?" Korra asked in surprise.

"Well of course he has a name child," Katara answered. "I don't believe I've ever told you about him have I?"

"Wait… you knew him! He was a real person!? I thought he was just a statue!" Korra asked loudly, why hadn't anybody ever told her?

"Yes, he was a real person and a good friend. Would you like to hear the story?"

"Yes!" korra answered quickly and a grin on her face.

"Very well," Katara answered with a smile. "It all started shortly after I met Aang. We visited Kyoshi island because Aang wanted to ride the elephant koi fish…"

Many Years Ago

Kyoshi Island

It began with an explosion in the night sky. Suki and the other Kyoshi warriors were patrolling the island when the sky was set ablaze, after the initial explosion a ball of fire fell from the sky and crashed into the forest half a mile away. There's not a single soul on Kyoshi island who didn't feel the impact.

"W-What on earth was that?" one warrior asked in astonishment.

"A Fire Nation attack?" another suspected with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not sure," Suki pondered. "If it was an attack it would have hit the village. We have to check it out, Tama, gather the other warriors and guard the village, the rest of you, come with me"

With her orders given, Suki rushed deeper into the forest followed by three others while the fourth rushed in the opposite direction.

It took only a few minutes to reach an impact crater with flames licking the edge. Suki wasn't worried about the fire, the surrounding snow would stop it from spreading. When she spotted something moving in the center she instinctively drew a pair of battle fans from her uniform and took her stance. Earth in the center of the crater had started shifting around and suddenly a blast of fire shot into the air as a fist broke through the dirt.

An arm followed the fist, then the rest of the body.

"Gah!" a man gasped for breath and shoot dirt from his hair. "'Gentle ride' my ass!" he shouted angrily.

Suki quickly took in his appearance. He looked to be in his late teens, had blues eyes, wore a black headband with a metal plate etched onto it. He wore a black outfit with some orange on the chest with a red coat worn over it, black flames decorating the bottom of the coat.

As if the fact that he'd blasted fire from his fist wasn't enough, the outfit was a cincher. He was a Fire Bender.

"Warriors, attack!" Suki commanded.

"What the?!" the man exclaimed as he dodged out of the way of their initial attack.

"What are you doing on our island?" Suki demanded.

"Waiting for someone. It's good manners to introduce yourself when you meet someone new, I'm Naruto, you are?" the newly dubbed Naruto asked with a smile as he leaned against a nearby tree. He ducked out of the way as several arrows pierced where his head had been moments before.

"Ahh, do you treat all visitors this way?" Naruto asked as he eyed the arrows with panic.

The girls didn't respond to anything he said, he continued dodging the attacks for as long as he could, finally he'd had enough and dodged one last swipe of a sword before jumping high onto a tree branch.

"Ok, if it's a fight you want," with a grin Naruto crossed his fingers into some sort of sign, the Kyoshi Warriors fell back into rank and prepared themselves for whatever was coming.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Silence, the only sound heard was the crackling of the fire surrounding the nearby crater. Nothing happened.

"Oops," Naruto said with a blush on his cheeks. With an embarrassed grin on his face he scratched the back of his head and admitted something. "I forgot, that doesn't work anymore. Heh."

Suki stumbled out of her stance. 'This guy's an idiot! Is he really an invader?'

"Enough of this foolishness!" the bow wielding warrior barked as she fired three arrows together. Acting on instinct Naruto thrust his fist forward and a burst of fire incinerated the wooden arrows before they could reach him.

"I agree," Naruto said with an intimidating look at them. "I've done nothing but defend myself until now, but if you attack again, I'll return the favor!"

Suki didn't like being threatened. She rushed at her opponent again with her three warriors directly behind her, completely ignoring his warning.

Naruto rolled his eyes and sent a powerful blast of fire into the snow between him and the warriors, the snow became water which quickly evaporated, blanketing the area in steam.

"Where is he?" Suki muttered.

Within a minute the steam disappeared but there was no sign of the intruder.

Said man was almost a mile away on the southern shore, where he'd found a cave to stay in.

"Man, being a fire bender is going to be a real hassle," Naruto muttered in annoyance as he started gathering up some driftwood to light a fire. "It should be a while before the Avatar arrives. You sure this is where he'll show up?"

Behind Naruto, the ethereal form of a man appeared. He wore red robes and had his grey hair tied into a top knot. This was the former Avatar, Roku.

"I am certain, he'll arrive early tomorrow morning, here on the southern shore… thank you again, Naruto, for agreeing to help," Roku said with a bow.

"As if I had much choice," Naruto fired a spark of fire from his fingertip, lighting the fire. "It was this or death."

"Nether the less, with the rest of the world at war with the Fire Nation, it would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for the Avatar to find a Fire Bending Master without you…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… you've told me this a dozen times already," Naruto interrupted rolling his eyes and mimicking Roku's tone of voice. "I've taken up the mantle of the Fire Guardian, as such, it is my responsibility to protect and guide the Avatar as well as teach him Fire Bending when the time comes… I get it already."

Roku smiled in amusement. "Very well then Guardian, I shall depart and leave you to your mission."

Naruto shook his head in exasperation as the spirit disappeared, "Drama queen."

Naruto got as comfy as he could near the fire and closed his eyes trying to get some sleep. All the while wondering what his first meeting with the current Avatar would go…

"AHHHHHHH…"

Naruto was startled out of his sleep by a loud scream. He shook the cobwebs from his head and looked out the cave mouth in time to see a young bald boy in his underwear running across the top of the ocean away from a giant fin belonging to something huge under the water. To anyone other than Naruto, that might have looked strange. Looking closer Naruto noticed the blue arrow tattoos on the boys arms, legs and head.

"The old geezer reincarnated into that?" Naruto muttered. "Must have pissed somebody off in a past life… literally."

The Avatar slammed into the beach at breakneck speed colliding with one of two teenagers waiting for him. Naruto was about to approach them when the same warriors who attacked him the day before appeared seemingly out of nowhere and quickly blindfolded, tied them up and dragged them away.

"… Does the word 'hospitality' even exist on this island?" Naruto muttered while shaking his head and following them.

He tracked them to a village on the other side of the island which had a busy fishing port, the Avatar and his two friends were tied to a post being interrogated the islands warriors. Naruto was trying to think of a way to fix this situation when the girls drew their battle fans and approached the prisoners in a stance that made Naruto doubt that they were going to cut them free.

With his duty to protect the Avatar clear in his mind, Naruto rushed forward.

"I'll never forget that day, Naruto dropped from the sky and raised a wall of fire between us and the Kyoshi Warriors, then with a single blast of fire he burnt away our ropes," Katara said with a fond smile.

"What happened then? The four of you escaped?" Korra asked with rapt attention

"No, Sokka picked up a rock and hit him in the back of the head with it, knocked him out for half a day…"

Korra looked at her master with her eyes widened in shock.

"Sokka never did trust Firebenders back then, he reacted on instinct… after Naruto woke up he introduced himself and told us of his mission… that after dying in his world he met Avatar Roku and was asked to take up the role of Fire Guardian, to protect and guide the Avatar and when the time came, teach him Fire Bending."

"W-Wait a second…" Korra held up her hands to halt the story. "I thought Aang was taught Fire Bending by Zuko?"

Korra almost regretted bringing it up, as Katara's expression changed from one of fondness to one of grief.

"He… never got the chance to…" Katara revealed sadly. "Naruto traveled with us from then on, we didn't fully trust him at first and for his credit he didn't blame us. He defended us from Kuko on Kyoshi Island, met King Bumi and helped destroy the earth bender prison, he traveled with us to Roku's temple on crescent moon island. It was there that Aang found out from Roku himself that Naruto was being truthful about where he came from…"

Katara continued to describe her adventures with Naruto, her smile returning but her eyes still showing sadness.

"It wasn't long after that when everything went wrong…" Katara's smile faded again as the hardest part of the story approached. "After an encounter with some pirates we ran into a group of freedom fighters led by… 'Him'…" Korra noticed a bite in Katara's tone.

"Him?" Korra asked

"Jet," Katara clarified. "He hated the Fire Nation with a passion, and was immediately suspicious of Naruto. He said we couldn't trust him, that Naruto would kill us the moment we turned our backs on him."

"and he expected you to believe him?" Korra asked with an incredulous smirk.

"… I did…" Katara whispered ashamedly much to Korra's shock. "Foolishly, I let his words creep into my mind and I started to suspect Naruto… it came to a head when Sokka and Naruto returned with Jet from a mission, they tried to warn us that Jet had attacked an old man for no reason other than he was Fire Nation, we got into an argument and I ended up saying something I have regretted everyday for 70 years…"

"Sokka, I trust Jet more than I trust Naruto! For all we know he's waiting for the right opportunity to kill us and hand Aang over to the Fire Lord!"

Everybody in the hut was silent, Aang and Sokka were shocked and even Katara had a hand over her mouth, not quite believing what she'd just said. Naruto looked saddened, he'd thought that after traveling together for almost a month she'd come to be his friend… not wanting to cause anymore of a scene Naruto left the hut ignoring Katara's sputtered attempts at an apology.

"That was the light time I ever spoke to Naruto, in the end I didn't realize what Jet really was until it was too late," Katara said as she wiped away her tears.

"What happened next?" Korra asked as she tried to ignore the wetness gathering in her own eyes.

"Well, Jet told us that the Fire Nation were planning on burning down the forest to get rid of them, to prepare for it he asked me and Aang to help fill a reservoir with water to put out the flames. He lied to us, his plan was to break the dam and flood the valley, wiping out the village below along with the Fire Nation soldiers stationed there…" Katara continued her story with a shaky voice.

"and the villagers too…" Korra realized, when Katara gave a shaky nod Korra knew her master was having a hard time telling the story but she couldn't bring herself to stop it, she wanted to know… needed to know what happened next.

"Sokka was the first to figure it out, he went to the village to warn them and ran into Naruto on the way, while Sokka went to the village Naruto had his own plan…"

"I can't believe you would do this!" Katara screamed at Jet whom was currently frozen to the trunk of a tree.

"This is the only way Katara! The Fire Nation corrupt everything they touch, the only way to stop them is to wash it all away and start over." Jet argued calmly.

The argument was cut short when the sound of a bird reverberated through the area, this bird call was answered by Jet with his own unique bird call.

"What are you doing!?" Katara demanded in a worried tone.

"What needs to be done!"

Half a mile away a flaming arrow was shot to the base of the dam, detonating the blasting jally at its base. The resulting explosion reduced the dam to splinters and unleashed the water Katara and Aang had worked all day to build up.

"No…" Katara whispered in horror.

However, half way between the rushing water and the village it would wipe out, stood one person, the Fire Guardian, Naruto. In his former home Naruto had always been known for his knucklehead ideas, this was possibly the worst.

"This is a really stupid idea…" Naruto said as he started to gather nature energy from the world around him, it was the one skill he had retained from his former life, he would need the extra boost for what he was about to do.

After gathering a large amount of energy he raised his hands and an enormous wall of fire erupted behind him, as he fed his nature chakra into the flames they took on a bright hue, almost as if the flames were bright white, he continued to pump more and more chakra into the flames even as he saw the water approach, finally just as the water reached him, he took the strongest bending stance he could and thrust his fist forward, the blindingly hot flames obeyed his movements and rushed past him slamming into the water with incredible strength.

From all around the valley the spectacle could be seen, from the ruined dam the freedom fighters saw it, from the village Sokka saw it and from the nearby cliffs, Katara, Jet and Aang saw it.

A torrent of rushing water and a wall of white hot flames slammed into each other and an unimaginable amount of steam was created which blasted into the sky. It seemed impossible, but somehow, the fire was holding the water back

"W-What the hell is that?" Jet asked with wide eyes.

"Naruto," Katara said simply and a smile on his face.

Down in the valley Naruto was struggling. The flames he was using were incredibly powerful but they wouldn't hold up long against the sheer amount of water he was up against, he felt himself weaken as the sage chakra he had absorbed started to run out, water pooled around his feet as the flames started to lose their power and the water started to overpower him.

With what remained of his sage chakra Naruto could feel the presence of the villagers he was protecting, they still weren't safe, if he gave up now, they'd die and so would Sokka as he was still in the village trying to evacuate everyone.

Naruto knew what he had to do, and he knew the consequences of his actions. With no regard for his own safety he broke every safety rule that the toads drilled into him regarding sage chakra.

"Sorry Aang," Naruto whispered. "You'll have to find a different teacher." with renewed strength, Naruto strengthened his stance and with every ounce of power he had, pushed.

The wall of flames that had been weakening suddenly erupted back to full strength and held fast against the water, everybody watching had to look away as suddenly the flames erupted into a brightness that rivaled the sun.

A few minutes later the water tapered off, what little of it made it past Naruto was only ankle deep, the fire weakened turning from blinding white, to blue, to its natural red and orance before finally fading completely and all that remained was a thick layer of stream.

"He… he did it!" Katara shouted in glee.

"That was amazing!" Aang shouted with an equal amount of relief. "I've never seen Fire Bending like that before!"

After reuniting with Sokka, the three friends made their way into the steam to find the fourth member of their team.

"Naruto!" Katara called out trying to find him, her thoughts on how she would apologize to him.

"Narutoooo!" Sokka called out, hoping to thank his for saving his life along with the villagers.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Aang called out prompting Sokka to stare at him for using his full name.

"Aang, how many different Naruto's do you think are in here?"

"Narutooph!" Katara grunted and fell on her back as she bumped into something solid. She looked up at what she had collided with and after a moment of horrifying realization let out a blood curdling scream.

"Katara! Where are you?!" Sokka yelled in panic trying to see through the fog.

Aang suddenly had an idea, he chastised himself for not thinking of it sooner as he slammed his staff into the ground and unleashed a blast of wind in all directions clearing away the fog. They quickly spotted Katara on the ground with somebody standing over her in a fire bending stance.

Aang and Sokka rushed between Katara and the stranger.

"Hey who do you think…" Sokka's threat tapered off as he saw who it was. "No way."

"T-That's impossible," Aang said shakily

Standing before them, in the same stance he used against the water, was Naruto. His facial expression forever frozen in a look of intensity.

"He's…" Aang started but was interrupted by Katara.

"Turned to stone…" Katara whispered as tears started falling from her eyes.

As if the world itself was morning the loss, the water Naruto had evaporated chose this time to return to the earth as rain.

"He turned to stone? How?" Korra asked as she wiped away her tears.

"Naruto once told us of a way he could increase the power of his bending, by drawing in the power of nature itself, something he called sage chakra. However if he wasn't careful with it then nature would overpower him and turn him to stone, we can only assume that is what happened," Katara said with finality.

"What happened then?" Korra asked.

"We took Naruto with us to the North Pole, hoping somebody there could help him, but it was not to be… we left him in their care as we continued our journey, never forgetting what we had lost." Katara finished her story.

"So this stature was made as a monument to him?" Korra asked in amazement.

"… Not quite…" Katara said in a mischievous tone.

There was a moment of awkward silence between the two as Korra pieced it together.

"Whaaaa?" Korra yelled as she fell off the back of the bench in shock, when she regained her footing she pointed at the 'statue' almost accusingly. "Y-You mean t-that statue is…"

"Not a statue," Katara said, amused at her protégés reaction. "This is Naruto Uzumaki, the Fire Guardian. He always said it was his duty to watch over the Avatar, so when this compound was built we thought it was the right thing to do to bring him here, to watch over you as you grow and train."

Korra face looked like it was about to erupt into flames, she had been visiting her secret crush for years, she had told him things, private things… she had even kissed him on the cheek once. This thought alone almost made her pass out.

"Mater Katara… you don't suppose he can… y'know, hear what we say?" Korra said, praying the answer was no.

"I like to think he can, I know he's still in there and I've never given up the hope that one day he will return to us," Katara said with a smile on her face.

Korra's face grew hotter, at both the thought of him suddenly coming to life and at the thought that he had heard everything she had told him over the years… it would be like a teenage girl's diary suddenly becoming sentient.

"Oh gee is that the time?" Korra sputtered out as she let out a large fake yawn. "I'd better get to bed, don't wanna be tired for my test tomorrow, goodnight."

With that said Korra rushed off trying to hide her red face all the while muttering "Oh god, oh god, oh god…."

Katara chuckled at her student's behavior, it was blindingly obvious that she had a crush on Naruto.

"That girl handles crushes about as well as Aang did," Katara said to herself with a smile on her face before turning to Naruto. "Goodnight Naruto."

As the elderly water bending master walked away, she never noticed the crack form under Naruto's eye and spread down his cheek.

To Be Continued…

please review :)