Disclaimer: This is strictly a work of fiction. I do not own Naruto or Avatar the last Airbender. At the time of this writing they are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Nickelodeon respectively. I do own the concepts and plots I introduce into the story. This story is a product of my imagination, not for monetary gain, but for my own enjoyment. Enjoy.

Naruto gazed up at the ceiling of the tent with Chichi snuggled up against his side as he idly stroked her bare shoulder with the arm he had wrapped around her.

Well, he'd done it. He'd passed the point of no return, downright demolished it. Was it the right thing to do? Chichi had certainly thought so.

Naruto turned his head and looked at Chichi's contently sleeping face.

Naruto smiled.

'You know what? Screw it.' Naruto thought as he brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. 'I'm happy right now and if this can make them happy as well then I should let nothing hold me back anymore.'

Sokka was a simple guy. Not that he was mentally impaired, mind you. No, it was more along the lines of a man who had lived his life with simplicity at its core.

Today had not been simple. Oh, sure it had started out well enough. He and Katara had gone fishing, he had made fun of her magic water bending, and she had dumped water on his head. You know the usual.

But that had been the end of the usual. Today they had broken a boy and his giant bison out of a freaking iceberg. How does that even happen!?

It turned out the boy was an air bender and he and his bison had both, understandably, had a bit of a cold.

Egh, he shivered just thinking about.

On their trip back to the village the boy had fallen asleep so once they made it back Katara took him to a tent and left Sokka to deal with the giant bison. After trying and failing to decipher what exactly the giant behemoth might eat, the bison (whose name he had heard Aang say was Appa) wandered a little ways away and lay down with a huff. It had been pretty peaceful since then but it was later in the afternoon that it got even more complicated.

As Sokka finished fixing a fishing net one of the mothers in the village, Nilak, came running to find him.

"Sokka, Sokka come quick!" she called out to him, pulling him out of the mundane chore he had been invested it.

"What's wrong Nilak?" Sokka asked worriedly. "What's happened?"

Nilak paused briefly to catch her breath before standing straight and speaking in as calm a voice as she could.

"There are some people approaching the village." She said. "They got off a boat at the shore and were headed for the gate."

Sokka grabbed his club and boomerang, quickly heading for the gate.

He arrived to see two people, a man and…..a woman? Yes, that was a very tall woman. He didn't know women could grow to be that tall.

The man greeted him first from his seat atop a small cart that was full of stuff.

"Hello there young man, that's a nice boomerang you got there. I think you might be a little late though." the man spoke cheerily gesturing to Sokka's brandished weapons as he did. "The war has been put on hold from what I've heard."

"Who are you?" Sokka demanded quickly before what the man had said to him registered. "Wait, what did you just say?"

"Now, that's two questions already. You're a very quizzical lad aren't you?" the blonde man chuckled lightly before hopping down off his perch. "But I suppose since I am the stranger on your land I should oblige you."

Sokka jumped slightly when the man suddenly hopped into the air and clicked his heals together as the woman whipped out a musical instrument.

"I come from a land far away," the man began as he waved his arms in exaggerated and strange movements as the woman whipped out a tune. "Traveling is my passion and the world is my oyster. I am the magnanimous Naruto Uzumaki!"

He finished his speech with his arms outstretched and a whirl of his head.

Sokka could not help the slightly flabbergasted look on his face.

Today was defiantly turning into his strangest day, ever.

The man then turned to the woman and gestured for the instrument.

"Alright Chichi, now it's your turn." Naruto said as Chichi handed it to him happily.

"No, No! I don't need to see that ever again in my life! I just wanted your names!" Sokka yelled a little crazily.

The woman, Chichi, pouted while Naruto pated her on the shoulder.

"It's okay Chichi. We'll do it again some other time." Naruto said comfortingly.

Naruto then turned to Sokka and continued as if nothing had just happened.

"To answer your second question, all I know is that something happened during the war that caused everyone to stop." Naruto finished with a shrug.

"Sokka!" Sokka heard Katara call out to him. He turned to see her and the rest of the village quickly congregating behind him.

Naruto turned and addressed the assembled village with arms outstretched and a wide smile.

"Greetings ladies and gentlemen, I and my companion have travelled far to visit your picturesque land and hopefully trade with you for some items that can only be attained here." Naruto said.

"Why would you want to come here? We haven't had any visitor's in years." Katara asked as she stood at the front of the assembly between the village and their peculiar visitors.

"I'll tell you why Katara." Sokka spoke up as he gripped his weapons a little tighter. "It's because they are fire nation spies."

Naruto tilted his head quizzically.

"Right, we are fire nation spy's come to spy on your dangerous fishing nets and defeat your many dangerous warriors." Naruto said with his hands on his hips and a shake of his head as his face became sterner. "It's good to be paranoid young man but put some more thought into it before making such judgements. You don't want to come off as a bad stereotype do you?"

"Besides if I wanted to force anything," Naruto made a small gesture and Chichi reached behind her and pulled out her giant blade, sticking it into the ground in front of her and leaning on it lightly. "none of you could take on my Chichi."

He hadn't said it threateningly. It was as if he was stating a simple fact, like the sky was blue.

Sokka took a step back but before he could respond Grandma Kanna placed a steadying hand on his shoulder and stepped forward.

"Please forgive my grandchild," she began politely but firmly. "The years have been difficult since the men of the village left to fight in the war and Sokka takes his position as the eldest man of the village very seriously."

Naruto smiled brightly.

"I understand completely." He said as he walked forward and bowed in the traditional water tribe greeting. "I take it you are the village leader then?"

"Yes," Gran gran said as she returned the bow and a small smile formed on her face. "They look to me for certain decisions these days. They seem to think that these old bones have some grand wisdom tucked away."

Naruto tilted his head quizzically.

"Old? How could such a breathtaking woman such as you be old?" Naruto said sincerely as he took Kannas hand and smiled his signature foxy grin. "Trust me, I know old and you miss are a beauty that defies such a plain classification."

Sokka's jaw could not have dropped further as he saw his beloved Gran gran's cheeks take on a darker hue.

"That kind of flattery is not going to get you anywhere, young man." Kanna bit back.

"Flattery?" Naruto responded just as quick. "My dear, don't you know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder?"

"All right that's enough!" Sokka nearly screamed out as he made to stand between his Grandmother and the very strange Naruto. "You mentioned trading didn't you? Well let's have a look then."

Naruto looked Sokka up and down for a moment before nodding and smiling once again.

"Of course young man, however I still haven't caught your name."

"It's Sokka."

"Well, let's get on with it shall we Sok…. Oh my Spirits! Chichi, look at that adorable bison, it's so fluffy I'm gonna die!"

After trading for a while, Naruto and his companion somehow got the entire village to love them. There was just something about the couple that drew them in. Even Sokka wasn't completely immune. At one point he had caught himself enthusiastically conversing with Naruto about the new defences he had been working on. Part of it might have been that it had been so long since an older male had been present in his life but the blonde also just had this charisma that infected everyone around him.

As for Chichi, she was a big hit with the kids. Her bubbly personality and large frame excited the children and put them at ease around her almost immediately.

As the sun began to set Kanna invited the couple to stay for dinner and they accepted. Naruto even volunteered to cook for the whole village with the various ingredients he had brought with him. Turned out he was a phenomenal chef and the village quickly devoured the small feast that Naruto had whipped up. When asked about how he had attained his culinary skills Naruto had laughed jovially.

"Lots of time, trial and error." he had replied.

Naruto even made something for Appa. When Sokka asked him how he knew what the bison would eat Naruto had told him that he had recently come across a pretty sweet library with a ton of information.

Later as Chichi and Naruto began to head back to their boat Katara stopped them.

"You mentioned before that the war has been stopped." She asked. "Have you heard anything about warriors from the southern water tribe and their ships?"

Naruto tilted his head as he thought for a moment.

"Hmm, can't say that I have." Naruto lied.

Of course he knew. He knew every deployment of every military currently in the war. He even knew of those in the Northern Water tribe that hadn't been actively involved in the conflict thus far. But a regular trader wouldn't know that. So he lied.

"Wherever they are I'm sure they are safe and all thinking of you." Naruto said comfortingly.

Katara looked down for a moment in silent contemplation before she walked up to Naruto and gave him a hug.

"You really are a kind person, Naruto." She said as she turned her head to look into his eyes. "Thank you."

Naruto blinked and was silent for a split second before a brilliant smile formed on his face.

"And you Katara are a caring and bright soul." Naruto said as he patted her head lightly. "Don't let anyone take that from you. Good night."

After Katara and the rest of the village bid them goodnight Naruto and Chichi left through the little opening in the wall of snow surrounding the village.

Sokka stopped them there.

"I still don't trust either of you and you hit on my grandma. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to get that out of my head." Sokka said as he shivered. "But I haven't heard laughter in the village like that in a long time…..so…..you know….like…..thanks or whatever."

"You're very welcome Sokka." Naruto replied as Sokka shifted uncomfortably. "I will see you tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Sokka said as he quickly headed back to the village.

Naruto watched the boy go until Chichi pressed against him from behind.

"Naruuuutttoo" she moaned out as she reached for his crotch.

Naruto turned his head and gave her a quick kiss.

"You know the others won't be too happy to know that we've fucked several times already."

"I don't really care. Fuck me."

"As you wish." Naruto chuckled.

Aang awoke to the sound of shrill laughter. He opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the noise; his vision was blocked however by the tent that he found himself in. Looking around he located his shirt and quickly put it on, grabbing his staff after he finished. Just as he was about to head out Katara came into the tent.

"Oh, you're already awake. Alright, well come and meet everyone." she said as she grabbed him by the hand.

Once Aangs eyes adjusted to the light he was finally able to see what all the commotion was about. Appa was hovering some ten feet of the ground with a tall red headed woman standing below. The woman was throwing the squealing children up into Appas saddle and the children would then slide down his tail into a soft embankment of snow.

'Appa must have eaten and rested.' He thought.

Aang immediately wanted to go and join in. Before he could however, Katara presented him to a group of women, Sokka and a yellow haired man that was hanging out at the back watching the children rather than paying attention to him and Katara.

When Aang's gaze rested on the blonde for a seemingly long moment the man's blue eyes glanced over to him and a strange aura overcame him. He felt small, insignificant, weightless, excited, afraid, warm and a whole other bucket of emotions that he couldn't quite understand at that moment, all at the same time. He didn't know how long the moment lasted but as soon as the blonde's eyes turned away the feeling was gone and he felt like he could breathe again.

"…..and this is my Grandma Kanna." He heard Katara finish up her introductions.

"Call me Gran gran." The older woman said.

"It's nice to meet you all." Aang said as happily as he could and with a small bow.

Aang was surprised and a little confused when the group of women in front of him regarded him with apprehension.

"Uh…why are they looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?" Aang asked Katara as he looked down at his clothes.

"Well no one has seen an air bender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct. Until my granddaughter and grandson found you." The grandmother said as she stepped forward a little.

"Extinct?" Aang asked but before anyone could respond Sokka came up to Aang and grabbed his staff.

"What is this, a weapon? You can't stab anyone with this." He said as he inspected the rod.

"It's not for stabbing." Aang said as he pulled the staff back to himself with a gust of wind. "It's for air bending."

With another gust the wings popped out to the villager's amazement and Sokkas surprise.

"Ho?" the group heard the blonde's voice ring out from behind them. "How interesting."

The tall man then made his way through the group and approached Aang.

"Tell me young man." The blue eyed man asked with a gleam in his eye. "Would you be interested at all in selling such an interesting piece to me?"

"Uh, not really." Aang replied "It was a gift from my mentor."

"I see." The man nodded knowingly. "Such an item would be priceless wouldn't it? I had to give it a try though."

Aang didn't know how to deal with the man in front of him. Something inside him was churning as he stayed in the blonde's presence. It was a strange feeling that he couldn't identify. However at the same time the man gave off a warmth and kindness that he had only ever felt from his mentor Gyatso. He decided to ignore the strange feeling and chose to focus on the warmth and kindness.

"Ah, but where are my manners?" The blonde smiled now as he gave a small bow and Aang was a little puzzled when next to him Sokka sighed happily. "I am Naruto Uzumaki, traveling merchant and entrepreneur."

"Entre-what?" Aang asked scratching his head.

"I heard a little bit about how you were found young man." Naruto said and Aang felt the man's gaze become a little more intense. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

"I'm twelve." Aang said as he stood a little straighter.

"I see. It was nice to meet you Aang." Naruto said as he turned and made his way to where the tall woman was.

'So weird.' Aang thought before he was distracted by Katara again.

Zuko looked through his spyglass searching the area where the flare had gone off.

His gaze was quickly drawn to the black Fire Nation ship (the light blue and white ice and snow made it very easy to spot) and the figures leaping out of it.

"The last air bender, quiet agile for his old age." Zuko muttered under his breath before turning to his crew. "Wake my uncle! Tell him I found the avatar."

Zuko then scanned the area in the direction that they were running and spotted a small village.

"As well as his hiding place."

Naruto and Chichi stood outside of the village and off to the side away from the argument taking place.

After Aang had woken up and Naruto had introduced himself, Naruto had gotten Chichi and headed back to their boat. He had needed to go over a couple of things with his other half and his various commanders. The Avatar had just popped up. That was a pretty big thing to plan around. Then Chichi had distracted him. God that woman loved sex.

They had emerged later to see the village gathering near the gate to meet Aang and Katara.

"I knew it. You signalled the fire navy with that flare. You're leading them straight to us aren't you?" Sokka accused.

"Aang didn't do anything. It was an accident." Katara defended.

"Yeah, we were on the ship and there was this booby trap and well we….we boobied right into it." Aang chipped in.

"Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger." Kanna reprimanded.

"Don't blame Katara. I brought her there. It's my fault." Aang said sorrowfully.

"Aha! The traitor confesses, warriors away from the enemy, the foreigner is banished from our village." Sokka commanded.

"Sokka you're making a mistake." Katara said angrily.

"No, I'm keeping my promise to dad. I'm protecting you from threats like him." Sokka pointed accusingly.

"Excuse me." Naruto's voice cut through the argument like a knife.

Everyone turned and looked at Naruto who was walking towards them slowly and in a placating manner with palms open and outstretched.

"I know it's not my place but if I might interject for a moment." Naruto began with a smile. "I can tell emotions are high at this point but if I could just point out some things as a neutral party here. Firstly, and I mean no offence by this, but what reason could the Fire Nation have for setting up such an elaborate infiltration? All your warriors are away as I am sure they are aware. It may seem ruthless but if they wanted you gone you would be. Second, the pillar of light yesterday would have attracted any interested parties regardless of the flare earlier. Even I used it to help me find your village. Finally, if any danger is coming I find it incredibly foolish to turn away a powerful air bender AND perhaps even more importantly a flying bison that could quickly relocate at least all of the children out of harm's way."

Everyone took in everything Naruto said with varying reactions. Katara was pleased, Aang looked hopeful, Kanna was pensive and Sokka seemed like he wanted to argue but was having a hard time coming up with a reason. The rest of the village was also going through different emotions but what was becoming very clear to the mothers was that their concern for their children was outweighing everything else. The children were just confused.

"Now, if I may suggest a course of action?" Naruto continued. "Let the air bender help. Have him use his bison to transport as many people away as possible to a safe place that only you know of until such a time that any potential danger has passed. Have your strongest members leave last. When everyone evacuates safely Aang, Sokka, Chichi and I will stay. If no danger comes, Sokka will come get you. If it does we will defend the village if we can or deal with anyone that is just curious. If we cannot do that then we can escape. Appa can circle back to pick us up or Chichi can outrun almost anything and can get Sokka to you while losing any pursuers. I can take care of myself and Aang can just fly away."

"I'll help with anything you guys need!" Aang volunteered eagerly. "Let me make up for my mistake."

"It is a good plan Sokka." Kanna said to Sokka as she touched his shoulder.

Several moments passed before Sokka nodded briskly.

"Alright let's do it." Sokka grunted. He clearly didn't like being overruled but his protective side won over. That was a good trait in any man and Naruto was happy that Sokka possessed it.

Zuko stood in the back end of his ship as the men assembled.

"Spilt into your teams and team two, hurry up with your preparations." Zuko commanded as he jumped into one of his smaller boats.

As the men loaded up Zuko briefly thought back to what Jiraiya had said that had inspired this plan.

'Why are you so focused on learning battles where it's you against one or multiple people? If anything you should be training with your entire crew against my team. From what I've read it'll be the best chance you have against a fully realised Avatar.'

Zuko almost never smiled but he felt his lips curl slightly as the boats slid into the freezing water.

'Almost there.' He thought. 'Almost there.'

Naruto opened his eyes as he finished scanning Zukos ship out in the water.

"You know Chichi," Naruto said to her as she stood next to him in the fog just outside the village. "I think I may have made this a lot harder than it probably would have been."

Not a lot of action in this chapter. Next one will remedy that. For now I have decided to put off lemons as I want to continue to focus primarily on the story.

I also wanted to apologise for posting the last chapter twice. I was trying to post a URL on my profile but it wasn't showing up so I removed it from the authors note.

I'm going to be bringing in two characters from Naruto's past into this story. I don't know who yet so I would like your suggestions. Two restrictions though. They have to be female and not part of the main cast or even primary secondary characters. The more obscure the better.

I also got an interesting review saying that my story was too good for them to read. That was interesting. It did raise a potentially interesting criticism for me though. Do you guys have trouble understanding what is going on? Let me know. Thank you for reading this far.

Constructive criticism is welcome. Flames will be ignored. Till next time.