Sorry for the late post, my apologies. Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor Avatar: The Last Airbender. All work belong to their respective owners.

Rant: Why did I not use Naruto post-war arc?

I don't want to but it would make an interesting story, I believe. I thought about that while I was writing a rough draft for a NarutoxKorra story (put on hold for this story). I just kept envisioning Naruto heroically appearing in front of the United Republic of Nations army in a cloud smoke with his summonings against the colossal machine of Kuvira's, while Sasuke swoops down on his hawk.

Naruto post-war arc is very overpowered... and I did not like the war arc. I liked everything before the war arc, though, I wished Obito remained committed to his goals. I wish Kishimoto explored his doubts while in the pre-Akatsuki days (off topic: but I fell in love with Obito after Shippuuden ending 28. Such a great song with beautiful imagery) before his talk with Naruto. Wishful thinking, I know, now that it's all over, but I just can't help it.

Inside a small shack, through an open window, a gentle wind swept into the small room where Naruto was sleeping soundly, his loud snores and nonsensical mumbling breaking the silence of the morning. The wind, like the caressing fingers of a lover, gently rustled the sleeping blond boy, swaying his yellow, spiky hair, and nipping, playfully, at his skin.

Blue eyes steadily fluttered open to an intense bright light. The eyes retreated back to the darkness, closing and adjusting to the light. When they finally opened once more, the blinding light abated and the blurriness cleared. Naruto moaned miserably.

His discomfort lied in the pains and aches of the body. His arms and legs were sore, and his muscles felt stiff. The muscles twitched and flexed uncomfortably and the pain was an ache that reminded him of the past ordeal against Sasuke. He could feel the Kyῡbi's chakra mending him together slowly, healing his wounds after the power backlash that left him in this undesirable state. Naruto knew after using this much power a quick fix was not possible. He tried flexing his fingers only to realize how challenging it was to do the action. He slowly curled his hand into a fist but had a tougher time reopening it.

He tiredly sat up and looked around, idly scratching his messy blond hair. He was in a four-walled, wooden room with nothing besides his forehead protector, his ninja pouch and container, Tsunade's jeweled necklace, and some muted yellow and green clothes on the floor.

He glanced at the bland brown wall on his left, to the open window affixed on the wall, to the wall in front of him, and then the door on the right. Naruto scrunched his eyebrows together in thought, and then released them after a moment. Indeed, he had no idea where he was. However, there was something else nagging his conscious, like a buzzing fly flying around his head at the smell of sweat.

He leaped off the bed, revealing himself bare besides his ramen-patterned underwear. He searched underneath the bed. No sign. He walked up the wall, coating his feet in chakra – and still no sign. He flipped down and angrily threw off the covers of the bed, and still no sign of his wonderful and beloved orange jacket and pants.

"Where are my clothes?!" he yelled, his hands scrunching his hair in frantic panic. "What happened to my clothes?!"

Those clothes were special to him, well, since orange was his favorite color. But that to him was more than enough, a simple treasure, as he did not have the money at the time to afford better clothes. Being poor and an orphan was expensive. The clothes were special, in an obvious way.

They made him standout, conspicuous, among the villagers. Wherever he traveled, their eyes went with him. The colors made it impossible for them to ignore him. Besides his glowing head of yellow hair and cheeky smile, his orange clothes put him on the map of Konoha's most hated and most creative and loudest prankster. He drank their attention, negative or positive – mostly negative – like a man starving for food. He needed it, instead of their backs turned in disapproval, shame, and apathy.

He grunted a sigh of disapproval. He wanted his clothes badly. Naruto was about to head for the door when it was flung open, revealing a middle-aged man with balding black hair and a sharp scowl. He glared at the young boy, his dark eyes annoyed and tired. Great puffy bags hung like clouds beneath his eyes, and they were red and irritated.

He stepped closer and Naruto looked up. "You know, people, good people, are trying to sleep. You're making too much damn noise," the man said, his voice a bit gravelly from sleep, as if his saliva cemented his tongue to the sides of his mouth.

"You?! I would not have to make noise if I knew where my clothes were," Naruto countered, stubborn and agitated over his missing belongings. He scowled at the man.

The man looked down and pointed to the clothes on the floor. "They're right there!"

"The hell they're not, old man! They're orange! O-r-a-n-g-e!" Naruto yelled, crossing his arms in frustration. He began to wonder if the man was colorblind. Did he not know what orange looked like?

"They're just clothes. I got you new ones. The ones on your back were torn and dirtied. They were practically falling off your body," the man motioned to his lean frame.

"I don't care! They're still my clothes," Naruto barked, exasperated at the man's unwillingness to divulge information on his clothes.

The man grumbled a few words, and turned his head towards the doorway. After a moment his head turned back. "My wife is tending to your clothes, so this is all that we have right now. It's not much but it'll fit, considering your skinny appearance."

"She is?"

He nodded, confirming. "When you're dressed, meet me in the main part of the house for breakfast. It's right across from your living quarter."

The man immediately left, closing the door behind him gently. Naruto quickly dressed in his new clothes; a muted yellow tunic, with a lime green sash and complimentary pants. The tunic was a little loose, slightly hanging from his thin and lean body, but the pants fit well. He grumbled at it not being orange. Out of all that they had, there was no orange article of clothing. He guessed he should have been thankful that they had something. It would have been embarrassing to be parading in his ramen-patterned underwear in public.

He fastened the Konoha protector on his head and strapped his pouch to his waist and the container to his right leg, and put on Tsunade's necklace. When he felt ready, he buzzed out the door into the lively outdoors. He surveyed the area, noticing behind the main house, trees loomed, green and vibrant, compared to the rocky and beige background of the rising mountains. He noticed a farmyard juxtaposing the house, the animals roaming the pen, sniffing the ground. A sense of serenity, a quiet peace, lingered in the air and could be felt by the wind and the melodious birds and their singing, increasing as the day wore on.

He hurried to the hut, his stomach protesting in loud and angry noises for food. The noises gurgled and growled, causing his vision to dim somewhat, his knees to slightly tremble, his stomach angry at his forgetfulness. He could not remember the last time he ate. Suffice to say, his desire to face and save Sasuke overruled any sense of appetite.

He opened the door and to his surprise, besides the man kneeling at the head of the table, two other people were inside, two women. One was older, with peppered colored black hair, which was in a tight knot atop her head. She had kind, misty, green eyes and a warm smile. She sat on the man's left. Across from her another; she had long dark black hair, and dark brown eyes that almost looked black, like the man at the table. Her eyes reminded him of obsidian, impenetrably black. She was very pretty and bronze, a tan he guessed, for she, too, was a farmer. She gave Naruto a pensive stare, unnerving the young shinobi.

The shack had four walls; two (on his left and in the back) had opened doorways, and a solid brick wall on the right. An ornate dadoa sword in its dark green sheath decorated the right wall. The handle was thick and worn, the brown grip peeling in small ribbons.

"Are you gonna sit, or stare?" the man said, his brow rose in askance. He gave the blond an annoyed look before eating.

The blond sat down, thanking the man for the food. The meal was quiet except for the disturbing crunches and table manners of Naruto. The trio watched in fascination and disgust as he shoveled mouthfuls food into bottomless stomach. His hand was like lightning and his chop sticks the medium to netherworld of his stomach. He chomped loudly, increasing his pace as a healthy burp exploded from his mouth, halting the other three from their meals. Naruto never had good table manners.

He paused in mid-bite, his mind, for once, oblivious to the food around him. A sudden thought came to him that he had overlooked – or, more precisely, did not want know. But it had to come. He could not avoid the answer forever and play the naïve clown. "Say, old man, thank you for the food. But where am I? and who are you?"

"And here I thought we would never get to this part," the man said, frankly. "I am Luk Xiu, and this is Mai"—he gave a curt nod to the smiling woman – "my wife. The other one is my daughter, Daiyu" – Xiu looked to the youngest one. "We own this farm. And you are?"

A bright smile eclipsed the young shinobi's face. "I am Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's number one and most unpredictable ninja!" Naruto proclaimed. He was proud of that accomplishment, for no-one could say that they could predict his thinking or tactics when he had a plan.

The trio stared at him in a collective expression of wonder and silence. The silence was disconcerting as they stared at him as if multiple tails had sprouted from his bottom. Xiu broke the silence: "Yeah… Ninja? Konoha? That... is something."

"So, old man, where am I? The last I remember I was at the Valley of the End," he paused, a cold feeling emanating in his chest. Pain and sorrow churned in his stomach.

Sasuke.

Sasuke was now gone.

The last thing he remembered was the fight between him and Sasuke at the Valley of the End.

Sasuke.

Tumultuous emotions battled inside Naruto, and swam into his eyes. Wet tears started to fall and trickle down his face, past his whiskered cheeks, and onto his clenched fists. The tears were hot and he let them fall.

He had lost – lost in a battle between his friend, and his promises. He had sought to bring Sasuke home, fighting the Sound ninjas sent by Orochimaru with his team, directed by newly Chῡnin Shikamaru. Everyone sacrificed their lives for him to meet and capture Sasuke before he crossed to Sound Country… and he failed. He failed his teammates: Neji, Chōji, Shikamaru, Fuzzy Eyebrows (Lee), and Kiba. But he failed the one dearest to his heart, which he had made her a promise of a lifetime: Sakura.

He promised Sakura to return Sasuke back to her, to them, to Team Seven. He promised no matter whatever obstacles or paths he faced he would return Sasuke back.

But he failed.

Naruto remembered her heartbroken expression, the tears falling in torrents, endlessly. Sakura was inconsolable and her sobs drowned him despair. She had only asked him for this one promise, but he could not keep it.

He had fought Sasuke with everything he had and more, he nearly let the Kyῡbi control him, however, his perseverance was far greater than that of the monstrous demon fox. He used its power to outmaneuver the Sharingan, but to his surprise, Sasuke's eyes matured, predicting his movements. The Kyῡbi's chakra, though foul and tainted, gave him the necessary power of unpredictability.

However, Sasuke had another trump card: Orochimaru's seal. The boy relied and relished on his new found power. The curse seal equaled with the Kyῡbi's cloak and Naruto had found it difficult to repel him. By the time they clashed for the final time, their last strikes hitting their marks, Naruto knew he had lost Sasuke to his darkness.

Inside the white voluminous world, Naruto saw himself and Sasuke as kids, younger and alone. From the time he was born, Naruto had always been alone; losing himself to the hollowed emptiness of familial bonds and a resentful village, eyes bearing anger and hatred for his existence. He had always walked a line of solitude and loneliness. And that day, when he saw Sasuke alone, staring into a lake with the same vacant eyes he had, in the deserted Uchiha district, he thought he had found another individual, a kindred soul, who shared the same pain.

And at that moment he was so happy, because Naruto thought he could, finally, connect with another person and share that empty feeling, that burden. Being alone wasn't so hard anymore. A connection of shared experiences was what the boy sought so desperately. But he had to try an act tough at a meaningful moment: when the two made eye contact, a connection was formed, but Naruto broke it with a stupid and arrogant pout on his features. He saw Sasuke mimic his attitude and he secretly smiled because he felt less alone.

Naruto wanted to preserve that moment, continuing to build and develop that bond. Sasuke wanted to sever it. And in the end, they fought viciously – and he lost. Sasuke, now, was probably somewhere with Orochimaru, letting the Sannin activate his body transfer technique. Sasuke was no more, and the conclusion emphatically hurt the young Uzumaki.

"Hey, Naruto, are you alright?"

Breaking out of his gloom-induced mood, Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes, and laughed embarrassingly, rubbing the back of his head, his voice holding back a sob. "Of course, I'm fine. Never better. I just got something in my eye – that's all!" he laughed uncharacteristically louder, amid the frowning and worried faces. He had to remain strong, he was a shinobi. But the pain of losing a friend was unbearable.

Xiu's dark eyes critically appraised Naruto. His mouth tight and he seemed to be contemplating something. He finally spoke after a moment. "Where are you from Naruto?"

Naruto blinked. He thought from recognizing his headband, since they were in the Land of Fire, people, normal people, would recognize the leaf insignia. "I'm from Konoha, you know, in the Land of Fire. By the way, old man, do you know a way where I can get back? I got to head back. I'm on an important mission, which I -"

"Did you by chance see a kid, around the same height with spiky black hair? He has a fan symbol on the back of his shirt," Naruto said, his voice very fast. He had to know if there was chance to catch up to Sasuke, even if he was far behind.

The man shook his head negatively, "I'm afraid not; I only found you after such an unnatural event."

"Unnatural?" Naruto questioned, tilting his head, though feeling his hopes deflate. From what he could remember he and Sasuke were the only ones at the Valley of the End.

"Yes. The sky was clear while I was coming back from a trip to Xihai, a village near the ocean, but as soon as I left, storm clouds descended with a certain torment. They raged in the sky, and when I thought it was over, you appeared from the sky, striking the ground in the middle of my path. I couldn't leave you there so I picked you up and took you home."

"The sky was unnatural you say, that sounds like some fairytale," spoke Xiu's wife, smirking skeptically at the man. The smirk deepened the wrinkles in her face.

"Bah! I told you this last night. I don't make shit up like this. The spirits opened up a portal from the Spirit World," Xiu argued, annoyed at his wife's cynicism.

"What kind mysticism like that happens? I'll tell you: the Spirit World! You can say whatever you want, but I know what I saw, and my eyes saw the truth. You" – pointing at Naruto – "are either a spirit or something like that."

"What?! I'm a spirit?" Naruto touched his face, feeling the softness of his skin, the wetness of his thin lips. He, honestly enough, was quite confused. Did he die? He couldn't be dead! This had to be a dream or a nightmare. His blue eyes swirled in their sockets looking at the astounded faces of the three farmers, waiting for anything to happen to make his thoughts true. A moment passed and nothing but the eerie silence of the room, that seemed to gradually close in on him. He had to say something to break this terrible situation.

"I can't be dead! I still gotta be Hokage!" he yelled, watching the three farmers jump in surprise at his outburst.

"You're not dead, boy. You just fell from the sky," Xiu said, slowly. "And if you were dead, would this hurt."

He flicked the boy between the eyes. Naruto squinted from the hit, feeling a slight stinging sensation between his eyes. He reasoned that he was still alive because he could feel pain, which was a very good thing. Hope wasn't lost yet. Another thought entered his head.

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait… are you telling me I fell from the sky," Naruto asked incredulously. The notion sounded ridiculous.

"Yes. I believe the spirits had something to that effect. It's hard to believe but yes," Xiu confirmed, surely.

"So, then, where am I? Am I at least close to the Land of Fire?"

"Land of Fire? If you're talking about the Fire Nation, you're further than you realize. That nation is further west, in an archipelago," he sneered, his tone had a level of contempt. Xiu's face grew harder.

"On an island? No. The Land of Fire is on a continent," Naruto proclaimed vigorously.

He reached to the back of his pouch and pulled out a small folded paper. Finding an open space in the middle of the table, he placed the map on it. Naruto's index finger glided across the map and stopped between north of the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Sound. "I was right here."

Xiu and his wife leaned across the table, with furrowed brows and indiscernible expressions. Daiyu hovered over Naruto, looking on in interest. Xiu raised his head, and his eyes found his daughter.

"Daiyu, go get the map," Xiu ordered. His daughter nodded and left. A moment later she came back with the paper and gave it to her father. Xiu placed the map over Naruto's. He moved his hand to a point west of Omashu, on the western half of the Earth Kingdom continent.

You're on a pile of dirt, but geography wise you're in the far west of the Earth Kingdom, on the outskirts of Xihai, a port town."

Naruto stared in shock. His head lowered and his eyes watched the table, unblinkingly, as if he could see through it. He could not believe it! He was just fighting Sasuke at the Valley of the End. Then was it the light? He remembered an orb of light from his Rasengan and Chidori colliding and enveloping them in a gargantuan and blinding light. He did not know.

Naruto's world seemed to shrink, the very fiber of his existence, his lifetime goals, diminishing with every second gone by. He dreamed of becoming Hokage, to be acknowledged by the very people who had scorned his existence and glared with disdain at his behavior. And now, none of that mattered, for he was in separate world or continent.

If what Xiu said to be true, then he had lost Sasuke, possibly forever, to the clutches of Orochimaru. Every part in his body felt weighted as if an invisible force was crushing him slowly; demolishing everything he dreamed and hoped for. If he could not bring home his friend, how could he become Hokage? More importantly, how could he get back to Konoha?

And also: Neji, Shikamaru, Chōji, Kiba, and Fuzzy Eyebrows. He did not know what became of his friends. Were they still alive? They never caught up after Rock Lee intervened in his fight between Kimmimaro. That thought further demoralized the blond. Naruto's eyes became vacant and all energy seemed to diminish under his sad thoughts.

"…Hey Naruto, are you alright?" Xiu asked, watching the boy's listless expression.

Xiu looked at his daughter. "Daiyu, take Naruto and start the farm work."

"But father," she said, her eyes looking with concern at the young shinobi. Her father gave her a stern look, his head pointing toward the door. She sighed, and took the enervated boy by the hand, and led him outside.

Xiu walked towards the window on his right, watching his daughter show the kid how to milk the moo-sows. Xiu hoped by keeping the boy busy his condition would not deteriorate further. He hoped the farm work would keep the boy busy, give him something else to focus on. Xiu had seen that look before and, consequently, it did not bold well in the end.

"Dear, do you believe him? I find the story to be unbelievable…! But by looking at him – he has yellow hair! I don't know anyone with that kind of hair. Maybe it's dyed. Who would dye their hair yellow?" his wife said, cleaning up the dishes from the table.

Xiu huffed before smirking. His mouth curbed upward cryptically as if he held mysterious knowledge – which he did. "Of course, he fell from the sky."

His wife rolled her eyes. "What are we going to do with him? The boy is obviously depressed. Something happened to him, something terrible. It's a wonder the way he's holding up that he's trying to pretend he's strong. I wonder what happened to him."

Xiu did not answer; he merely stared out the window in thoughtful silence. The clouds still covered most of the sky, but nothing could yield or bulwark the descending rays penetrating the gray opaque mass. Light always has a way, no matter the circumstances, or the darkest abyss, of shining through.

XXX

Daiyu sat on the rickety fence that enclosed the small barnyard. She chewed languidly on a blade of grass and kicked her feet absentmindedly in the air. She felt wonderful not doing her daily chores and sitting away watching Naruto do it for her. A light breeze caught her unaware and she basked in its coolness as it fluttered her black tresses and tunic-styled green dress.

Her hand held her flying hair back as the wind picked up. A loud laugh escaped her mouth as Naruto tackled another moo-sow, trying to milk her utters into the bucket. The moo-sows were trying Naruto's patience as they slipped away from his grasp. The animals were covered in mud, and from experience, it was almost impossible to hold one without it slipping through. The trick was to feed the animals while milking them, keeping their attention fixated on their food. But she wasn't going to tell Naruto that; he would just have to find out on his own.

Naruto gave her an irritated look, his face and hair covered in thick mud. He looked like mud monster, all foul and dripping guck. His muted yellow tunic was smothered in mud.

"Stop laughing, you idiot!" Naruto called, on his hands and knees. "And help me hold down these pig-cow animals or whatever they're called. They're so damn slippery."

"What do you mean? I am! I'm watching you," she said, a broad smile on her lips. "Those pig-cow animals are called moo-sows."

A moo-sow tackled him into the mud, and his face sank into the coolness of the wet dirt. He spat out thick globs of mud in disgust, brushing his tongue with his hand. Daiyu burst out laughing, the sound of her melodious laughs chimed in the air. She gripped her sides; they hurt from continuous laughter at Naruto's hilarious handling of the farm animals. He wasn't a complete idiot at the farm work, which put him in her good books.

Nevertheless, she had to give him credit; he knew what he was doing. As idle as she was, her eyes analyzed the way the boy worked around the animalss. He seemed familiar with farm animals, and he filled countless buckets, changed the feed, and watered their various vegetables. However, he would wince in pain at times when he was doing chores. Daiyu wondered if falling from sky hurt him. Her father's story did not seem real but the Spirit World was like that – Strange creatures or events happening out of nowhere. Rumors from Senlin could corroborate his story, and even, the rumors at the North Pole, where the Avatar, supposedly, turned into a gigantic fish spirit.

While he was doing her chores Naruto would sometimes space-out, eyes hollow, vacant of all expression, except sadness.

Daiyu would quickly shake the earth to rouse him from his daydream. She got a kick out of every time he fell into the mud. He would complain, loudly, and almost belligerently, but he stuck to his tasks with a strong perseverance that rivaled an armadillo lion's quest to find a mate. For the short time she'd been out here with him she could say that she liked him. He would make a good earthbender with his straightforward and quirky persona. Too bad he wasn't.

He said he was shinobi, but she had no inclination on that field or word. Was it something associated to farm work or agriculture, she thought curiously, as he was quite knowledgeable on animals – though by his bewildered expressions, it would seem like he had never seen a pig and cow hybrid, or any other hybrid that they had on their farm. They were all quite common in the Earth Kingdom.

She decided to find the truth herself. She waited until he cleansed himself of the mud from his face before asking her question.

"Hey Naruto," she called, "what is a ninja or shinobi or whatever you said you were?"

Spitting out some mud, he turned to her, his yellow brows high. "A shinobi or ninja are our village's military forces from where I'm from."

She tilted her head in confusion. Military? She had seen Earth Kingdom soldiers and Fire Nation soldiers; their composure, strict and disciplined – for some – was imposing and dangerous. Naruto neither looked fearsome nor dangerous, especially that baby face, though, she noticed, was thinning and maturing. Still his attitude told her he was an energetic child, and he behaved like one too.

"You don't look it," she commented, appraising his appearance. He looked like a runt that acted tough – strong words with no bite, like many of the kids in the city.

He gave a large dopey grin. "I am strong!"

He said those words with a certain confidence on his face that came from within. He did not hesitate and his words seemed to carry a stronger weight than suggested. She snorted. He had some imagination and spirit; but those attributes would get one killed or executed. Daiyu knew all too well of what Fire Nation did to those who expressed reluctance or resistance to their oppression. He seemed like the guy who would charge capriciously into a situation without a second thought of consequences. Stupid and brave.

"So what do these ninja do in your village?" she asked jokingly, thinking the boy had some imagination.

He noticed her expression and his face turned shrewd, he was about to open his mouth but he caught himself. Composed, he answered:

"We ninja do missions for our village, which spreads and strengthens our rapport and alliances to the people within our country and outside the village."

"Rapport? You know some big words kid," she teased.

"Hey! I read!" Naruto exclaimed, though he whispered afterward, "Sometimes. Thanks to Kakashi-sensei."

"Yeah, yeah. But what do you do? What are these missions?"

"Well, they vary. According to the level of a ninja – Genin, Chῡnin, and Jōnin - we are given a mission by the Hokage, our leader. D-rank missions are stupid and simple tasks, like farming and babysitting and catching cats. C-rank missions involve things like bodyguarding important people; and from there B- and A-rank missions are more dangerous and require a higher level ninja."

"Oh. Then what level are you," Daiyu asked.

"I'm a Genin, one of the best, in fact," Naruto declared, pumping a fist in the air.

"You're the lowest ranking, huh."

"Yeah but one day I'm going to be Hokage!" he yelled, a certainty in his blue eyes.

However that certainty and resolve seemed to vanish. He looked up to the blue sky, watching something far away, past the clouds, and the sky above. She hated that dejected look. She had seen it too many times of her friends and family, when the weight of the world crashed and shattered their illusions of the world that was once innocent and friendly, but brought on the despair of war and death.

"Naruto," she called, her voice louder. The blond refocused his attention on her. "You can't become Hokage with that sad look, can you?"

The shinobi gave her a funny look, his brows scrunching in thought. He started to chuckle and the chuckles erupted in loud laughter. When he finally settled down, he had a large smile on his face.

"You're right," admitted the boy, "I gotta become stronger; and then, somehow, I'll find a way to save Sasuke."

"Sasuke?"

"My friend," he said bending to the ground.

So that's why was depressed, concluded Daiyu. His friend was captured or somewhere out of reach. She was about to ask him more details when a brown ball splattered in her face. Mud covered her face, hair, and dress, and oozed down her face.

She wiped some of the mud off her face and scowled at the bowled-over boy laughing hysterically at her muddy visage. He was going to pay. She hoped Naruto loved the taste of mud because it would be the only thing his palate would remember after she was done with him.

XXX

The hours had flew by with surprising speed and the day turned to night. The stars sparkled and the crickets chirped in the earliest hours of the morning. Inside the hut by the barn, Naruto stared at the roof in the darkness of his room. White moon light spilled from his window and illuminated his startling blue eyes, turning them into pools of glowing sapphire. He had a thoughtful frown on his face.

Besides finally ridding the taste of mud from his mouth (yuck!) trouble blossomed in Naruto's mind. Questions of where was he and where could he go to get back to the Elemental Nations stirred in him. The thoughts kept him awake and drove the sands of sleep away.

The questions roused him at dinner when Xiu had said they (he, Naruto, and Daiyu) would be going into town to sell some of their vegetables. Now, Naruto was all for leaving the small farm to journey with them to Xihai but he would rather find a way home. He did not know of Sasuke's condition, but he vowed to find a way to bring him back, as himself, to Konoha.

He restlessly turned on his right side, his hands behind his head, and his elbow digging into the hay mattress. His blue eyes indolently found his Konoha forehead protector. He stared at the leaf symbol and a vague figure like a mist dispersing crystallized in his mind's eye.

The image of a grandfatherly figure stood on the peak of the Hokage Monument like a king, like a pillar of indomitable fire. He could picture in his mind, his stern expression, and his conical white hat and white flowing robes billowing in the wind, outlined by the burning sun, staring into the heart of the village, his hands clasped behind his back. The man was a mountain to Naruto, the embodiment of the Will of Fire. Naruto remembered his words when he was young sitting atop the Hokage monument.

He had been brooding that day from the cruel treatment of the villagers. At that time he did not understand or could formulate a proper answer to the hate he had received from Konoha's denizens. All he knew was that it was painful, absolutely ruthless in their glares and reproach. That was when he appeared – or more like was already there, staring into the heart of village.

Seeing him, Naruto blinked rapidly. He wondered when did the Third Hokage arrive, or had he always been there, like a visiting phantom.

"Naruto," he said, in his gravelly grandfather voice. His voice was soft but aged and wisdom colored it like hermit. "You're up here again."

"Go away, old man," Naruto mumbled through his knees.

He chuckled at Naruto's words. A loud silence surrounded them. It was a welcome reprieve for Naruto, he needed it too.

"I heard you missed class today."

"So what, old man," Naruto replied scathingly.

"You missed an important lesson. I lectured today for your class. So, since you've missed the lesson…" Naruto readied for his punishment, his lips and hands tightening in anticipation, "I'll give it to you now."

Naruto let go of his knees and stared wide-eyed at the Third. He was not being punished?

"Naruto, what do you know of the Will of Fire?" The Third started.

Naruto frowned thoughtfully. He did not know much, except Iruka-sensei always talked of it – he ignored his talks most of the time, finding time to snooze in class. Other times, when he was with the Hokage, he would bring it up, when he was crying from the torment of the villagers, urging him to be strong and have strength within himself, to survive.

"To be strong," he guessed, unsure whether the answer was acceptable.

"In a sense, yes, Naruto; but it means so much more. The Will of Fire is the essence of our village, the very strength of our bonds. It was cultivated by the First, and passed on to the Second and so on. They shared it with us, all of Konoha's shinobi. The Hokages are the original flames, and though they have died, their embers still remain, burning strongly to this day, in those that protect our village and provide peace to its people. To me, it stands for protecting the people precious in my life – everyone I care for in the village, the villagers and their homes. They are my family – as are you, Naruto."

"What does it mean to you, Naruto?"

Naruto had pondered that question and he had found an answer – when he fought Zabuza and the Demon Brothers; when he entered the Chῡnin Exam, and when he fought Sasuke: the answer was in his bonds, to protect them at all costs, to never give up, and to never go back on his words. He repeated those words in the solitary darkness of his room. He could not go back on his word. They were his truth, and vowed to never give up on Sasuke.

After making such a confession, sleep beckoned him into its wake. Naruto's eyes were heavy and a loud yawn reverberated in the stillness of the night. He closed his eyes, remembering he had a long day of ahead. Silence permeated in the room but it was stabbed quite harshly by the sound of rumbling, like a distant rockslide. Naruto's ears perked at the noise. Thanks to the Kyῡbi, his hearing was acute, like a fox. Naruto opened his eyes, left his bed, and dressed.

He took a kunai for precaution, placing it inside the folds of his tunic. A shinobi must always be prepared for the unexpected. He learned that the hard way against the Demon Brothers.

He headed out the hut. The darkness of night was not overbearing, it was quite comforting to the lone shinobi, as a sea of stars with the moon's brilliance set the small farm aglow. He placed his head on the ground, his ear touching the soft soil. The tremors from the earth were coming from the north, toward the mountains. Rising up, he started to sprint through the woods.

He jumped from tree to tree, his pace fast but silent as the quiet shadows of the forest. As he moved closer a small clearing appeared through the dense woods. Stopping at a tree branch overlooking the clearing he stayed to the shadows. He hugged the rough bark of the trunk, his body slightly crouching.

From his vantage point he could see the individual, the suspect, of the noises. He narrowed his blue eyes watching the figure dance? No. The figure moved with aggression and fortitude. The figure was swift as a tiger crouching and bending, leaping as if to pounce on its prey. As the figure moved the earth moved with it, rising and falling, shooting and smashing like high-powered earth jutsu.

The figure's left foot stomped the ground, raising a stone up. The stone levitated in front of the figure and the figure jumped. In mid-air a harrowing kick impacted the stone, and stone flew with great velocity into a large wall of rock. The stone smashed forcefully against the wall, cracking the structure.

In an instant the figure pulled out a long sword that glinted sharply and dangerously in the moonlight. The figure plunged the sword into the ground and tore through the earth. The earth reacted in sync of the strike, as rocky spikes erupted from the soil and charged into the wall. The spikes pierced the wall, thus demolishing the structure.

The figure sheathed the sword and dramatically bowed at her destruction. The figure turned to leave, stepping into the moonlight. Black tresses fluttered softly and the figure's face made Naruto gasp in delight and awe. The moon shined radiantly on her drenched face. Her dark eyes were round and shiny and still lingered with power from her recent attack.

She neared the woods, towards Naruto's direction. As she got closer Naruto couldn't hold his excitement any longer as he called her name. Instead of acknowledging him as he thought she would, she shrieked. In a quick succession, she stomped and a stone barreled straight for him. Acting quickly, Naruto released a steady amount of chakra to his feet and fell back from the branch, the stone flying dangerously over him. His body swayed upside down and stopped under the branch. Branches broke as the stone collided with them and fell unceremoniously to the ground. Now upside down on the branch, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then made a face at the young woman. He turned around, his body fully facing Daiyu.

"Hey! You nearly hit me!" Naruto barked, crossing his arms and huffing.

Daiyu stared at Naruto, her mouth a little ajar and her eyes under moonlight wide. "How are you doing that?!"

"I told you – I'm a shinobi," Naruto answered. He curiously surveyed the clearing then returned his attention her. Small sections of the clearing were in piles of uprooted dirt. "How did you do that awesome earth jutsu? That was awesome!"

"Jutsu? Wait! You're not supposed be here – no-one should know I am here," she said angrily. A simmering anger glinted in her eyes.

"How come? Were you training?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto," said Daiyu, imploringly. "You must not tell anyone about what you saw, understand?"

Her face looked stricken. Naruto frowned, unsure of the reason. "Okay, but how come?

Daiyu paused, silent as the night. She looked visibly agitated, her mouth twitching and tightening in thought, and her brow clenching and unclenching. Her dark eyes found his blue ones. "Naruto, you're right. I am training."

"Then what's the matter? Why must you keep it a secret? It shouldn't be a big deal that you're training. I train, too. Everyday."

"Because if the Fire Nation knows, I'll either be conscripted to serve them, jailed, or dead," she said solemnly. "I'm an earthbender, so any form of resistance could get me and my family into a lot of trouble.

"So I'm training to get stronger so I can join the Earth Kingdom army and fight the Fire Nation. Most of my friends have joined, and since I recently turned 16 I'll be able to join them and free our country."

Naruto pursed his lips. Xiu mentioned the Fire Nation at breakfast. They sounded like trouble so he asked.

A grim smile curved and then snarled on her features. "They are from the west, from a group of islands that want to control everything and everyone. They declared war on the three Nations: Air, Water, and Earth. They're nothing but brutal conquerors killing us and draining our resources. I hate them. I hate them," she said with more feeling, her voice thundering in the clearing. "We've been at war with them for one-hundred years."

Naruto knew her expression all too well. Sasuke had it. He remained quiet as she seethed.

"So I train here everyday with my father's sword – a sword he had not used since he retired from the war – and my earthbending."

"War," Naruto said softly. He knew war, briefly, during the events of the Chῡnin Exam between Konoha and the Sound and Sand villages. They committed a surprise invasion, all led and constructed by the Sannin, Orochimaru, whom deceptively killed the Sand's Kazekage and impersonated him to infiltrate the village. The Hokage was killed in the invasion. It was a day he would never forget.

"What about earthbending? Can you teach your techniques?" With new techniques Naruto felt he could increase his repertoire on jutsu, while showing off to the other Genin of how amazing he was. Inwardly, he smiled smugly. He could see their jealous looks in his mind's eye, especially that mutt, Kiba.

She shook her head. "Earthbending, like any other bending, is innate. You have to be born with this talent." A rock rose from the ground, and floated in her hand. The rock levitated, rotating, above her palm.

"Aw, man. How lame. You get such an awesome power," Naruto said. Life wasn't fair. Her earthbending reminded him of Kekkei Genkai, which those born in special clans, had special innate powers. Like Sasuke and Neji.

"Naruto, you must tell no-one – my parents already know – and I don't want the Fire Nation to needlessly attack them for the retribution of my birth."

"Don't worry, I promise."

"Good, now let's head back."

"Yosh!" Naruto flipped down, landing gracefully on the grass. The two walked in the woods, heading back the house beyond endless trees in their path.

"Say, Naruto, how did you hear me?"

"You're quite loud."

"…but I'm a few miles away."

An: That's it. Chapter 3 is underway. Naruto enters Xihai and discovers the brutality of the Fire Nation soldiers after a heroic fiasco that puts him and his new friends in danger.